The article, “The death of ‘traditional’ charivari and the invention of pot-banging in Spain, C.1960–2020,” published in January 2024 by Past & Present, had been a pandemic-writing project for Kerry. In his presentation, he indicated that he had wanted to probe into underlying assumptions that consider the use of noise-making as a form of political protests during the 2010s to a centuries-long tradition of charivari (or rough music culture), examine how we understand collective action, and explore the differences between two forms of rough music – cencerrada and cacerolada – in Spain.
Cencerrada comes from cencerro (or cowbell); cacerolada/cacerolazo comes from cacerola (or saucepan). Political pot-banging is called cacerolada/cacerolazo, whereas a traditional form of rough music – or charivari – is called cencerrada. The article traces the history of rough music in the twentieth century and the history of pot-banging.Kerry argues that the origins of political pot-banging can be traced to the ‘March of Empty Pots and Pans’ in 1971 in Chile. From Chile it spread to other parts of South America, and in 1983 pot-banging was appropriated in Spain as a practice of political protest.
Traditional charivari (cencerrada) was organised when a widow/widower was remarried or when there was a large age difference between the groom and the bride. It would usually last one day, and it was expected that the groom would pay a ‘fine’ to cover drinks. This seems to have been a common practice in the first half of twentieth-century Spain, but it started to decline in the 50’s and 60’s. By the 80’s it had died out.
The cencerrada survived the longest in rural communities in Spain, those that survived the ‘emptying of the rural space’ in the 50’s and 60’s (1 in 6 migrated internally or externally). But Kerry argues that in additional to the demographic challenges, attitudes towards gender may have also influenced the decline and eventual disappearance.
Political pot-banging (cacerolada) in Spain occurred in June 1983 to protest the closure of steel plant in Porto de Sagunto, including a wide action of strikes and demonstrations lasting for 500 days. The June 1983 action followed the Chilean Day of National Protest a month earlier against the policies of Augusto Pinochet. In December 1983, the Saguntinos also declared a day of general strike that resembled more the Chilean style of banging pots and pans whilst in their homes. And the Spanish protests were linked to anti- deindustrialisation and anti-drug activism and other causes and disputes.
Kerry further highlighted that not only are the two terms different but also the staging, sounds, and the purposes of cencerradas and caceroladas are different. In the case of cencerradas, whose sound has been described as ‘devilish’, there is also vocalisation in addition to the sound-making with bells, whistles, guns, and fireworks. A cacerolada relies mainly on the usage of kitchen items as instruments; vocalisation is not as important and therefore the sounds are different.
Kerry posited another key difference between the two forms of practices – the gender dimension. Whereas the gendered authority of women is central to caceroladas, the cencerradas tend to be more involved in communal shaming and other actions that often target women sexuality.
Buchanan agreed with the argument of the article, particularly the importance of the differences that are drawn between the two practices. He further considered it refreshing to focus on political protest practices offered a different take on twentieth century Spanish history, thus departing from the more common focus on political ideologies and parties.
But he outlined the need to understand how the effectiveness of these protest practices can be gauged, and how these protests relate to more formal organised action. He argued that one cannot ignore the trade unions and political party activism in Spain, and it is thus important to understand how these protest practices fit within the protest movements in Spain.
Buchanan further argued that if the argument is that pot-banging is an import from 1971 Latin America, the question is why does it take the Spanish about 10 years to discover it? According to him, these issue could be related to the role of the Franco dictatorship in suppressing protests, and he suggested that examining how these forms of protests fit within Spanish twentieth century history could be a possible avenue for Kerry’s future research.
The discussion focused on the repertoires of protestation across Europe, semiotic aspects of the two practices, the local aspect of manifestation of the protest practices discussed, and the self-perception of the protest actors – that is whether they feel a connection to past protest movements who have been employing similar practices.
by Alban Dafa (ESC Research Assistant)
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