where the faces that scare you have a backstory
Sixty masks look at you. Some seem to smile, others don't. You're inside an old house in the citadel of Bragança, and what you have in front of you is the result of decades of serious Trás-os-Montes carnival, the kind without confetti or plastic costumes bought online.
The collection of the Museu Ibérico da Máscara e do Traje brings together 29 localities, eighteen on the Portuguese side and eleven on the Spanish side of Zamora. Trás-os-Montes and Castile share more than a border, and you can see it here.
The 45 costumes round out the picture: each piece tells you who wore it, in which village, on which winter night. There's also a route dedicated to the mask across both countries, with a record of 46 craftspeople still working these forms.
It isn't nostalgia, it's a living craft. You leave here with a different idea of what putting on a mask means, and the citadel outside asks for another hour of your time.
what you'll find
- masks from village to village, none the same as the next
- costumes made of wool, leather and cowbells that still make noise
- 46 documented craftspeople, people who still do this by hand
- an old house inside the citadel, the space alone is worth the entry
