Community development, leisure, and civic participation in rural areas. The Galician entroido, a case study

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present Entroido (Galician Carnival) as a genuine leisure practice and example of self-managed participatory dynamics, which in our opinion represents an opportunity to consolidate community development processes, especially in rural areas, since it links tradition (resistance to Westernization, homogenisation and cultural atomization) and the ludic-festive dimension, enabling the empowerment of the endogenous resources of a community. 

In this sense, the text addresses, from a socio-pedagogical perspective, the constant controversy and the complex balance between the generalization of leisure as a life experience that delves into personal autonomy, and the minimization of the maneuverability that involves the extension of a leisure mass and based on the culture of the show, conceiving people as mere customers, consumers, users, and not as the true protagonists of that singular, individual or shared experience, which is leisure, always within the framework of the temporary vortex that it demands the consumer society and that prevents people from taking the rents of their life project. 

Finally, what we are trying to do is to demonstrate the potential that this type of popular initiatives have in the field of rural community development, as a strengthening of personal ties, and promotion of social identity.