On the occasion of the popular festivals and feasts, the streets of the villages of the Cape are enlivened by the dance of the “Giants”. The Giants are two enormous papier-maché puppets: Mata, the beautiful wide-eyed, pink-skinned native princess and Griffon, her Moor prince. They are each carried along the village streets on the shoulders of a man whose legs can only just be seen.  They carry out a courtship dance to the rhythmic beat of the tambourines and to the fascination of the children, producing a  spectacle which can almost be considered a theatrical performance. During the dance, Mata attempts to elude the attention of her Moor lover - first turning her back, then  retreating  when her prince advances until finally, taken by surprise, she goes forward again, almost touching him, while the beat of the tambourine becomes faster and faster and louder and louder.