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Olot Saints Museum

Popular culture. The Olotine Folkloric Effigices

The Olotine Folkloric Effigies: the new and old giants of Olot, the cabeçut known as Cucut, the Cap de Lligamosques and the small horses costumes. Photo by Blai Farran.

The Olotine Folkloric Effigies: the new and old giants of Olot, the cabeçut known as Cucut, the Cap de Lligamosques and the small horses costumes. Photo by Blai Farran.

The workshops in the town of Olot focused their production on religious imagery but often also turned their attention to the festive kind. Many of the giants and capgrossos (costumed figures with large heads) of Catalonia were built in the statuary workshops of Olot.

These Olotine folkloric effigices are made up of the giant and giantess, the Lligamosques big head, the Cavallets and the cabeçuts (as the capgrossos are known as in Olot). On just one day a year, for the occasion of the Tura Festival, they can all be seen dancing together in the streets of the town. 

The presence of a giant in Olot was documented for the first time for the Corpus Christi celebration in 1521. The figure of the giantess was documented in 1609. The sculptor Ramon Amadeu was commissioned with the building of those known as the “old” giants by the pavordes or administrators of the Tura Sanctuary in 1817. The current giants are the work of the sculptors Miquel Blay (the giant) and Celestí Devesa (the giantess). They were put on show for the first time for the Corpus Christi celebration in 1889.

The Lligamosques big head was documented for the first time in 1678. The current Lligamosques big head is an adaptation of a head made by Ramon Amadeu and it belongs to the collection belonging to the Bolòs family from Olot.

The cabeçuts are nine very distinct heads which appeared for the first time in 1902. Except for the captain, they dance in pairs, and they perform the new and old dances with the same music and two different choreographies.

The Cavallets were documented for the first time in 1601. However, those we know today appeared for the first time in 1904 and are the work of Francesc Estorch.

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<p>"El Cucut" and "la Xurruca". Garrotxa Regional Archives. Image Services. Casul&agrave; archives.</p>
"El Cucut" and "la Xurruca"
"El Cucut" and "la Xurruca"
<p>The dance of the &quot;Drac del Carme&quot; (Dragon of St. Carmen), 1928. Garrotxa Regional Archives. Image Services. Dou collection.</p>
"Drac del Carme"
"Drac del Carme"
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