Scheduling an interview with Carmen González was not easy. She is very busy with her family, art, and teaching local children through the Lancaster parks and recreation activities. It was a treat to finally sit down with her and learn more about the colorful carnival tradition that comes from Puerto Rico—the island where she was born and grew up.
Ms. González feels that the story behind the Vejigante and the mask that the Vejigante wears is very important. She learned it from her mother. Her family moved with her grandmother to Cayey, an inland town of Puerto Rico. However, her great-grandmother who still lived in Ponce would visit, taking Carmen’s mother back with her to Ponce. Ponce is the town especially known for carnival and so her mother learned about and participated in this tradition. Her mother was the oldest of 9 brothers and sisters, and because she was the oldest, was the one picked to travel. She tells me, "When I was young, my mother was telling me all of the time about carnival and the festival." From an early age, Ms. González learned about the significance of this tradition to her culture. She learned how to make the masks when she was in art school—not in a class, but from the other students who were there. While as a child she had been frightened by the Vejigantes and the large crowds at the Carnival, now she sees it as an important expression of being “Boriqua”—a word that native Puerto Ricans will often use to refer to themselves.
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The Boriqua: Responding to Colonialism
Ms. González begins by reminding me that mask making is a very important tradition in many cultures—not just the Puerto Rican cultures. Many African, Native American, and Asian cultures also have a long and storied history of masks and mask-making.
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Mask Making
The Puerto Rican tradition of Vejigante Masks is about more than the art of crafting the masks, it is also about the story and context of the event where the masks are worn. In Puerto Rico there are two distinct types of Vejigante Masks that are made—those of the town of Ponce, and those from the town of Loiza. Also called Loiza Aldea by the Puerto Ricans, this town is known for being rooted in African traditions and having one of the larger African populations on the island. The masks there are made with coconuts. The tradition that González grew up with, however, was that of Ponce where the masks are made with paper maché.
The tradition of the Vejigantes Ms. González traces back to Spanish traditions, but sees the Puerto Rican mask and carnival as being transformed by the African and Taíno influences. The Spanish tradition is seen as being derived from the Catholic festival that proceeds the Lenten season. Called “carnival,” Ms. González believes that the etymology, or origin of the word, comes from the word “carne”, or meat. A person of the Catholic faith is not allowed to eat meat during lent, so the weekend before Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), people would come together to eat meat, drink, and make music and noise. During Lent, they must put their musical instruments away and avoid meat.
The town that is best known for their carnival in Puerto Rico is Ponce, on the southern side of the island. While the tradition has been affected by many different aspects, Ms. González believes that many elements can be attributed to African traditions. For one, there is the use of what has been called the “Rasta colors”—the yellow, red, and green influenced by African traditions and often more closely associated with Jamaican Rastafarian traditions. The songs (comparsas) and dances (bailes) of the Vejigantes can also trace some of their design to other traditions than simply the Spanish.