Every year or almost every year, the Guinea-Bissau Carnival – Nturudu ¹Magdalena Bialoborska, Miguel de Barros. Nturudo: meeting the Guinea-Bissau carnival. Buala. [Online] April 15, 2019. [Citation: May 06, 2025]  as they say in Creole – it combines joy with the diverse cultures of the small – by geography, but large by history – country in West Africa.

Nturudu, a word that designates a giant mask, meaning ugly or frightening, is one of the main attractions of the festivities. Carnival, as we all know, is present in many parts of the world and manifests itself in diverse and varied forms.

In Guinea-Bissau, it has become a unique entity, bringing together people from all over the country and from various ethnic and sociocultural groups, and with very few similarities to other carnivals. ²Kowalski, Andrzej. Carnival in Guinea: a huge multi-ethnic “desbunda”. Cenalusofona. [Online] [Citation: May 06, 2025] .

It was the Spanish, Portuguese and French who brought Carnival to Europe during the conquest and colonization processes and these festivities were well accepted in what would become Latin America and the Caribbean.

In Africa, this was not the case, and the continent offered more resistance. Guinea-Bissau is the "exception," and sociologists and anthropologists will surely have one or more explanations for this.

If Carnival was Europeanized until Independence, after Independence it became a stage for local cultural events, although it maintained the main parade on Bissau's central avenue. ³Raimanova, Dasa. Bissau Carnival: Celebration of Guinean Culture. [Online] February 19, 2020. [Citation: May 06, 2025] – held for the first time in 1979, which I attended – and numerous small parallel parades that represent the culture and traditions of many Guinean ethnic groups.

While Carnival generally lasts three days, in Guinea-Bissau, especially in Bissau, it can last longer. ⁴Kalmasoul. Carnival 2019. Kalmasoul. [Online] 2019. [Citation: May 06, 2025] After the masked parades, the streets of Bissau remain filled with music and stalls selling traditional cuisine. The festivities only end weeks later.

And while it's true that the celebrations aren't just held in Bissau – there are parades in other cities and regions – it's on the streets of the capital, flooded with thousands of people, that the cultural diversity of this "small, gigantic country," with 23 ethnicities and 9 languages, is concentrated.

In mid-February, a huge and intoxicating manifestation of popular joy takes on unique shades of social and artistic identity.

In Bissau, the giant and frightening masks, made of mud, lined with more than five layers of paper pulp from cement bags and flour and water boiled in charcoal stoves and painted in bright colors, represent the symbols and rituals of the country's more than twenty ethnic groups.

The know-how of making these masks – one of the symbols of the country's urban traditions – is passed down from generation to generation, and children begin to learn the technique after watching their elders make them.

The masks produced for the Guinea-Bissau Carnival are considered some of the most original of the various African carnivals and are used, regardless of style, to convey a message.

A certain recognition of this reality was translated – although it went unnoticed – in the large-scale photographic exhibition entitled: “O Nturudu – Um Carnaval Sem Máscara”.

By Arlindo Camacho, it includes 18 portraits, each approximately 4 meters high, financed by Camões, IP, with the support of the State Secretariat for Culture of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, based on the photographic record of the 2020 Carnival and on display at the emblematic peanut oil factory, on Ilhéu do Rei, in Bissau ⁵Camões Institute. Guinea-Bissau: Opening of the Exhibition “Nturudu – A Carnival Without Masks”. Camões Institute. [Online] December 31, 2020. [Citation: May 06, 2025] .

To participate in the Bissau parade, where neighborhoods participate, each group competes with a queen, dances, and must have at least one hundred participants and thirty large masks—each weighing approximately two kilograms and measuring over a meter. Each year, a theme is chosen to serve as a starting point for Carnival creativity.

In Bissau there is also space for the “children's carnival”, which is the parade of children from different kindergartens and kindergartens in the country who present and parade with traditional dances and poetry recitation and the invocation of what it means to be a child in Guinea-Bissau.

Over the years, the theme has raised important social and cultural issues, leading to reflection during the preparations on issues related to the theme, such as the appreciation of cultural diversity and reconciliation between peoples, freedom and health.

The masks come to life during Nturudu (Shrovetide), through costumes, dances, songs and unique choreography, which make Guinean Carnival one of the most symbolic popular manifestations of all African carnivals.

In addition to the masks, various customs and evocations of ancestral rituals can be observed in the parade, which symbolize, among others, worship of the gods; those who have passed away, although always present, Iran (supreme spirit), initiation ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, funeral ceremonies (toka tchuru), and harvest time.

Carnival is also a gastronomic celebration with stalls selling typical foods of the country such as: Caldo de Mancara, Caldo de Chabeu, Corn Couscous, Cafriela, Dried Fish, Sigá, Canjas de Caquere and lots of drinks.

The different groups choose the songs and floats, but the masks, costumes of the groups' casts, and the small floats must be in keeping with the Carnival motto, which also serves as a judging criterion. The Carnival competition judges consider originality, innovation, creativity, expressiveness, and identity.

Before, during, and after Carnival, the city of Bissau hosts major popular and artistic events, and its dynamics change completely with the arrival of new people from different regions of the country and emigrants. Many Bijagó skirts and young girls with their bodies smeared with palm oil are seen participating in the competitions.

Like all carnivals, Bissau's also provides moments in which problems and differences are forgotten, current social rules become lighter, and a critical space for society, politics, and government is created.

For some sociologists and anthropologists, Carnival also serves a purpose within the national project, supporting the construction of national identity. In this sense, they argue, it is used as one of the instruments for constructing national identity, as a space for uniting the diverse cultures and ethnicities that make up the country's social fabric.

Bibliography

1. Magdalena Bialoborska, Miguel de Barros. Nturudo: meeting the Guinea-Bissau carnival. Buala. [Online] April 15, 2019. [Citation: May 06, 2025]
2. Kowalski, Andrzej. Carnival in Guinea: a huge multi-ethnic “desbunda”. Cenalusofona. [Online] [Citation: May 06, 2025]
3. Raimanova, Dasa. Bissau Carnival: Celebration of Guinean Culture. [Online] February 19, 2020. [Citation: May 06, 2025]
4. Kalmasoul. Carnival 2019. Kalmasoul. [Online] 2019. [Citation: May 06, 2025]
5. Camões Institute. Guinea-Bissau: Opening of the Exhibition “Nturudu – A Carnival Without Masks”. Camões Institute. [Online] December 31, 2020. [Citation: May 06, 2025]

Picture: © 2021 Francisco Lopes-Santos