Los carnavales como bienes culturales intangibles: Espacio y tiempo para el ritual

The text approaches the social and symbolic significance of the festive rituals, and especially carnivals, as cultural intangible goods. From a new perspective they are approached theoretically, critically reviewing some of the most original proposals formulated by the social sciences, especially by the anthropology and semiotics. The empirical ethnographic base comes from the fieldwork that I directed and carried out, between 1999 and 2001, in the framework of the project entitled: "The Festive Heritage of Estremadura (time and space for the ritual)".