Last weekend started in Spain the Carnavales and will be going on until next weekend. People dress up with costumes and there are parties, music, parades and a lot of fun. But there are two cities in Spain where the festivals get really big: Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Cádiz.
The Carnaval de Tenerife (Canary Islands) is considered the second most popular Carnaval in the World, after the one in Rio de Janeiro. They last over a week and during this time, people on the street enjoy the festivities, dressed up with costumes and dancing to different rhythms (with strong Caribbean influences). At the same time there is an official celebration with more than 100 groups with an average of 50 people each: comparsas, murgas, dress-up groups, rondallas and musical performers. These groups participate in different contests where they dress up, sing and dance in their categories. Each group writes lyrics, choreographs their dance, and designs their costumes, and all these together make a wonderful show. The songs are usually social, political or economic commentaries.
Every year there is a different theme influencing the scene, like “Magic” in 2008, “Horror Movies” in 2009 (I wonder if this was because of the new phenomenon “Twilight”, “True Blood” and “Vampire Diaries”…), “Pirates” in 2000, etc.
A very important part of the Carnaval de Tenerife is the election of a “Queen”, a kind of beauty contest, but here the costumes are the deciding factor. The dresses weigh around 150-200 kg (330-440 pounds) and they are very expensive, so some of the larger businesses on the island sponsor them.
The other big Carnaval–and the one I enjoy the most because I grew up in the region–is the Carnaval de Cadiz. Here the comparsas and the chirigotas become the main attraction. The groups of 7-15 people are also dressed up with costumes and sing original songs, some of them very sharp, witty and funny. The song contest is a big event, and the school children get very excited about it, so much that they even learn their favourite comparsa or chirigota and they know the lyrics better than they recall from memory a list of Spain’s regions.
Here is a video where you can see a chirigota group. You probably will have a tough time understanding much, being that even people from other Spanish regions have difficulty understanding such strong Andalusian accent. The theme of this chirigota is the current economic crisis and unemployment.
I remember when we prepared the costumes with excitement one month in advance and went to Cadiz (20 km away fro El Puerto de Santa María where I grew up), dressed up and stayed up all night long enjoying Carnival. It was great!!
I really recommend you to come to the Carnavales, either Tenerife or Cadiz, if you ever have the chance!!
-Rocio
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Rocio Osborne 