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THE SCENE
The exuberant carnival in Bosa is, especially today, an opportunity for community cohesion.
The streets, squares and dance halls are the places where this multicolored carnival festival is played out.
The theatrical plot and inventiveness of the participants is hightened by the recurrent sexual references of the numerous priapic symbols all of which combine to create a unique carnival experience.
Before Holy Thursday people dressed in costume go begging food for the evening feast. This rite is called lardazholu in the local language.
On Shrove Tuesday, during the day people sing s’attittidu (the dirge) for Gioldzi who is still an infant. He is represented by a puppet wearing rags which is often substituted by wooden or papier-maché phalluses and by pets.
In the evening, after a day of ironic sadness many people dressed in white clothes (many little Gioldzis) run after each other. When one of them is captured his genitals are illuminated and his captors exclaim: “…Gioldzi! Ciappadu l’appo! Ahi Gioldzi! Damilu a Gioldzi!”
The traditional singing of satirical songs that spare nobody’s feelings continues. These songs are in the tradition of the religious gosos and trallallera.
There are also many dances from su ballu %u2018s s’iskoba to sos ballos de sas kadreas (local dances), from su dilliri and su ballu tundu to “modern” dances.
This is an up side down world where good manners, the regulations and social institutions are ridiculed and sexual references are common. The language used is both obscene and disrespectful.
The performance is based on parody and grimaces.
It is a pantomime which in the tradition of all pantomimes results in unrestrained laughter and gaiety.