According to yesterdays Times, in Spanish carnival tradition there exists a mask of peliqueiro - a tax-collector from the 18th century. It’s escribed thus:

“Their painted faces are mute and macabre under the street lamps, their leather whips punishing whoever fails to leap out of their way. The authority they exude bores through the revelry like a hot iron.”

They also, apparently, had a habit of chasing people through the streets.

I know what costume Abel is wearing if we ever end up at a Galician carnival.

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