by Carmen Milagros-Torres
 |
| A vegigante by Erick Ortiz Gelpi |
When February arrives, the people of Ponce, Puerto Rico prepare for their special festival, the Carnival of Ponce. It is a week-long celebration full of music, dancing, and parades. The Carnival of Ponce has been celebrated in Puerto Rico for hundreds of years. The most important part of this celebration are the masked
vejigantes in their bright costumes.
The
vejigantes look like colorful monsters that leap and dance to the beat of the drums. Wearing bright, satiny jumpers with wing-like sleeves, they look like human bats. But the most important part of the
vejigante costume is the mask.
The masks are made of layers of paper and glue known as paper-mâché. The dried mask is painted in bright yellows, reds, purples, and blues. The artisans then paint complex designs with circles, squares, triangles, or big and small rectangles. All the masks have horns. Some have two horns, some have three, some have seven horns. One mask even has thirteen.
The
vejigantes also carry a
vejiga, a bag made of cow bladder that is filled with pebbles. The
vejiga makes a maraca-like sound as the
vejigante swings it trying to hit the people. As the
vejigante walk in the parade, the watch the crowd of people. Suddenly, they jump and start chasing any person they see. They swing the
vejiga trying to catch the person who laughs and runs. The crowd cheers at the
vejigantes. The
vejigante jumps and dances in the crowd and then returns back to the parade.
The
vejigantes love to dance. They move to the rhythm of
bomba, the traditional music of Puerto Rico. This music originated in Africa and is mainly produced by the
bomba drum which is made from a barrel. The
bomba musician sits behind the drum as he pounds out the rhythm: TUN-TUN-tun-tun, TUN-TUN-tun-tun, TUN-TUN-tun-tun.
When the
vejigantes hear the music, they begin to dance.
Vejigantes dressed in blue,
vejigantes dressed in yellow,
vejigantes dressed in green, and
vejigantes dressed in purple. And all dance to the rhythm of TUN-TUN-tun-tun. As they walk down the street you can hear, “The vejigantes are coming!” The children shout and dance, twirling round and round. The
vejigantes jump and dance and join the children’s dance.
Then comes the round of chants. The
vejigantes and children chant silly songs about the
vejigantes and the carnival:
Vejigantes:
Knock, knock, knock, knock!
Children:
The vejigantes eat coconut!
Vejigantes:
Pru-cu-ta, pru-cu-ta!
Children: How good is all that?
Vejigantes:
That old woman is a witch!
Children:
A witch she is!
Vejigantes:
And her eyes are the color...
Children:
of chocolate!
Vejigantes:
Vejigante to the water!
Children:
Bread and onion!
Vejigantes:
Vejigante ate mango
!
Children:
And even licked his toes!
Vejigantes:
Knock, knock, knock, knock!
Children:
The vejigantes eat coconut!
Vejigantes:
La-ri-O, la-ri-O!
Children:
La-ri-O, la-ri-O!
Vejigantes:
La-ri,la-ri, la-ri-O!
Children:
La-ri,la-ri, la-ri-O!
And then the
vejigantes once more dance to the rhythm of bomba. When the music ends, the
vejigantes leave the carnival. They will return next February to dance and play more pranks.
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About the author...
Carmen Milagros Torres is a professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. She is currently completing a PhD in Caribbean Linguistics. Her interests include photography, crocheting and reading children's literature, especially Caribbean children's books which highlight the Afro-Caribbean experience.
About the illustrator...
Erick Ortiz Gelpi is a plastic artist and visual arts teacher from Peñuelas, Puerto Rico. He has participated in numerous collective and individual art expositions. His illustrations have appeared in
The Caribbean Voice newspaper published in New York.
