The recent episode of SandMasters features the Carnivale of the Canary Islands, which unlike other Carnivales features a “burial of the sardine” to mark the end of festivities. The woman in that episode describes the burial as “hard to translate”. The wikipedia page notes the ceremony, but doesn’t describes its origins.
I get the general origins of Carnivale as being related to Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Lent, etc. But where does the specific tradition of “burying the sardine” originate from?
It’s not unique to the Canaries, apparently. It’s a Spanish thing.
That article reads as if it was run through Babelfish several times. A native English speaker needs to rewrite the whole thing.
It’s a variation on the old ritual of “hiding the salami.”
Yes. But why a sardine?
It’s already fishy?
Apparently it’s because of etymological drift…or else there areother possibilities
It wasn’t always a sardine. And it wasn’t always buried.
This post contains “original research” and is intended to inspire discussion. I am the first to point out it is not a peer-reviewed theory that explains the origin of any or all agricultural festivals.
An admittedly gross oversimplification and generalization: At the end of winter and the beginning of spring, an agricultural society disposes of its spoiled food stores by burying them in fields that will soon be planted. Over many years, the practicality of this solution becomes imbued with magical properties. The act of fertilizing the field evolves into a ritual, with one specific “ingredient” elevated to the status of an especially-deity-pleasing offering. The “pagan” ritual is subsumed to/appropriated by the religion of the conquerors and stripped of its ties to the original deities.
Discuss/attack/support/have fun with.
No idea about why we bury the sardine (ask five folklorists, get ten responses) but yes, it’s the final act of Carnavales all through Spain. Nowadays it’s mostly symbolic, any sardines not made of papier-mache involved get eaten for lunch the next day (which strictly speaking should be Ash Wednesday and thus an abstinence day, although nowadays and specially in towns with lots of universities Carnaval celebrations can stretch from just after the Epiphany until mid-Lent).