The Traditional Cultural Management of the Putleco Carnival: Documentary Gap and Historical Reconstruction

Abstract

Given the scarcity of documentary records and the recent centralization by municipal authorities, this article analyzes the traditional cultural management of the Carnaval Putleco with the objective of reconstructing its historical organizational dynamics. Employing a qualitative and ethnographic methodology based on interviews with former Mayordomos, three management pillars were examined: community origin, community organizational structure, and relative autonomy. The results document a transformation from the "Carnival Deputies" toward Mayordomías organized by the community's neighborhoods. It is demonstrated that, far from being improvised, the community developed an organic professionalization and mechanisms of invention of tradition that guaranteed the festival's sustainability for decades, underpinned by reciprocity and socia prestige. The study concludes that traditional cultural management constituted a complex system of social validation and logistical efficacy. While the economic context acted as a contributing factor in the transfer of management to municipal authority, this study provides evidence that the neighborhood organization possessed robust technical and political agency to manage the festival's identity, operating effectively independently of state bureaucracy.