The occasions are held on January 6 to rejoice the arrival of the smart males (“reyes magos”) into Bethlehem for the start of Christ. People fill the streets and trade presents within the night to mark the top of the Christmas season in Spain.
One of the smart males, Balthazar, is commonly depicted as a Middle Eastern or Black man in artwork, in keeping with Western church custom.
In a number of Spanish cities and cities, together with Alcoy in Valencia and Igualada in Catalonia, Balthazar’s assistants put on blackface throughout parades.
Criticism of this controversial apply has grown in recent times, with requires the usage of blackface to be scrapped and for Balthazar to be performed by a Black individual.
People on the parades put on blackface to emulate Balthazar.
Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images
Afrofeminas, an anti-racism group, desires the apply to be abolished.
“The parade helps to normalize slavery as something harmless and inconsequential in the collective imagination, which is completely untrue,” Lorenzo mentioned.
Afrofeminas argues that the outdated custom perpetuates fashionable injustices. The “dehumanizing stereotypes” peddled by the apply stoke additional prejudice in opposition to migrant populations within the locations the place the parades are held, the group provides.
TV3, a tv channel in Catalonia, advised Act Daily News that they solely broadcast from the parade in Barcelona, the place blackface shouldn’t be used.
“TV3 has rejected proposals to broadcast some cavalcades live precisely because blackface was performed,” mentioned a spokesperson for the channel Thursday.
Yet regardless of criticism, preparations for this yr’s parade, which will likely be held on Friday, press on. The organizers of the occasion in Igualada advised Act Daily News that “about 1,000 volunteers” will take part within the parade.
“Participation for this celebration is open to the entire population, without any type of distinction or discrimination,” mentioned the Organizing Committee of the Cavalcade of the Kings of Igualada. They mentioned the volunteers are “the reflection of an open [and] inclusive” metropolis.
The organizers mentioned “we are always respectful towards criticism,” including that “critiques are analyzed and taken through an internal process of debates.”
The organizers mentioned that they had trialed options “that continue to include the historical side of the celebration, the volunteers and the citizens of the city.” However, they didn’t specify what these options concerned nor how they deliberate to reply to the criticism confronted by the parade.
“This year, 2023, and like it has been done since 1899, the parade in Igualada will be majestic, and most importantly, it will be magical,” organizers added.
He conceded that “in time steps will have to be taken” to replicate the considerations of those that oppose the apply, however in the end “the success of the parade is that we make it as traditional as possible.”
Act Daily News’s Jack Guy contributed reporting.