ABOUT

Caretos is a folk ritual from Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal.These odd looking characters connect the gods and the men in a performance that is rooted in the cult of the ancestors that would ensure fecundity of fields, animals, and men. Their costumes are made of homemade quilts and fringes of wool.
Nowadays, these colorful characters bring joy to these little towns in interior Portugal, and it's a fun ritual to participate in, with both men and women masking up, but it wasn't always the case. The tales say that, in the old days, Caretos stole from the wineries and drank their wine, so their behavior quickly escalated with younger women and got a bit more violent with the cow rattles.That's why I decided to represent women in the frame of the illustration. Some are running, others flying, hiding, or dressing themselves as men. All these aimed at evading the Caretos.
This illustration was hand painted with acrylic gouache in September 2025 as a personal project.