Canary Islands and their Carnivals
This Spanish Archipelago Celebrates one of the most famous ones
Apr 17, 2007
Carnival festivities take place usually in February, forty days before Holy Week, as in most of the countries celebrating this. Every city, town or village celebrates Carnivals in Spain, (‘Carnavales’), although two of the most famous, apart from those in Brazil, are the carnivals of Las Islas Canarias.
Two cities, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, maybe due to the warm weather of the islands, celebrate this festivity in a very similar way to the Carnivals in Brazil. In fact, each region in Spain performs carnivals according to their own traditions.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife is located in Tenerife, one of the islands belonging to the Canary Islands archipelago. Their carnivals are very famous in all Europe. During approximately two weeks, several groups wearing colourful dresses go round the streets, while people, in their disguises party, sing and dance. So, we can easily find there are two types of carnival celebrations here: the first one, all those groups, around one hundred, who spend the whole year preparing their beautiful dresses and, on the other side thousands of people who just want to have fun and enjoy the celebrations, dancing all kind of music, from Caribbean to last heats.
Carnival groups have different categories:
- Las Murgas: They sings their own songs, generally referring to politic or social issues but with humour and irony
- Las Comparsas: Similar to Murgas, but they also dance. They members, non-professionals, may spend nearly six months preparing the lyrics, choreography and dresses.
- Las Rondallas: “Las Rondallas de Tenerife” are very typical in this island. A masculine or mixed chorus, and other people playing guitars or lutes among others form them. They songs are related with opera or zarzuela and the previous Sunday to Carnivals there is a Festival at the Auditorio de Tenerife where the best Rondallas receive the prizes.
These categories can also be found in other carnival groups, in different Spanish cities.
But what about Las Palmas de Gran Canaria? One of the most spectacular facts concerning carnivals in this city is that everybody concentrates in a big and nice place named El Parque de Santa Catalina. This is the ideal place for parades and contests. We won’t find here just rondallas and comparsas but also the contest to choose the Queen of the Carnivals. Lately they have also organized another contest to find the best… Drag Queen!
And finally, when carnivals are ending, every city in Spain celebrates “El entierro de la Sardina” which could be translated as “The Sardine’s Burial”, a parade to express that we have to stop dancing, singing and having fun, as Holy Week is coming soon and we’ll have to be prepared for that.
