Prehistory of the giants

The origin of the giant puppets figures, we know as them at the moment, must look for in very old ceremonial monks in who they appear with the purpose of to show, over the head of the presents and of this form to magnify it, to the being or God which they represent with its image, doing it at the same time presents it by means of the dances and ritual songs.

This generic formulation is valid for many of the places in the 90 countries in which we can nowadays find the giants, and that appear represented in the five continents, showing a wealth and impressive diversity.

In Europe, and other places, they were evolving from these origins, in a context of pagan religions, towards didactic and festive elements: Didactic to the being used by jugglers and the travelling theatres to reinforce its representations, and festive because also they are integrated in certain celebrations, especially the carnivals.

This popular presence caused that in the Average Age its presence was very frequent and also the rooting between the popular social classes. Nevertheless these figures were very different from the present ones, as well as the form in which was carried, since they included from a carved wood head located upon a twig and the body surrounded with a fabric, to straw structures, without representing no specific image, that after the ceremonial one could finish burned.

These forms of representation, so simple still, are represented in many places of the world, especially Africa and in some celebrations within Europe.