Nuorese Cultural DistrictCarnival is deep-felt and enthusiastically celebrated in the Nuorese. Almost every town has its own traditional stock character.
Carnival
Description
These characters have been passed down over the centuries and studied by anthropologists. The most famous ones include sos mamuthones e issohadores di Mamoiada, Maimones, Murronarzos e Intintos (from Olzai), sa maschera e gattu di Sarule, sos bundos (Orani), sos boes e merdules (Ottana), sos turpos di Orotelli, su maimone (Oniferi), su battileddu di Lula, s'urtu (Fonni), sos Colonganos (Austis, sos Intintos (Ovodda), Coli Coli (Tianai).
According to scholars, these characters were linked to propitiatory and Dionysian rituals carried out by ancient Sardinians to expel evil spirits or ensure a good harvest.
They first appeared on the feast of St Anthony (16 January, but in some towns 17 January), in connection with the traditional votive fires that marks the start of Carnival in Sardinia.
The processions have many different facets, but they essentially represent mystery and fear, all of it often accompanied by the sound of cowbells.
The streets are filled with Carnival characters, each one with its own meaning and history.
The atmosphere surrounding Carnival is different in Sardinia than that of other regions, since here it is linked to ancient agricultural, pastoral and rural rituals in which humans and animals played a key role.
