Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Jan 12, 2008 - 11:37 AM Fiestas

One of Spain's most exuberant carnival celebrations, that of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, is about to get under way. Easter is earlier than usual this year (Carnival Tuesday falls on February 5th) and Carnaval Las Palmas needs longer than most, with its murgas (satirical choirs), comparsas and desfiles (parades), fancy dress parties and, especially, its Carnival Queen Galas, the competition to become the conventional Carnival Queen and its drag queen version. Carnival is the most pagan, irreverent of festivals, and the choice this year of Olympus and the Greek gods as the Carnival theme promises. Read more.

As I say every year, Carnival (Carnaval in Spanish), is great anywhere in Spain, but has two highlights - Cadiz and Las Palmas, Cadiz for its wicked satire and irresistible high spirits, the latter for its extravagant galas. Essentially, Carnival is an extended party held before the deprivations of Lent, which is why its dates are determined by those of Easter. Because of its mocking, anti-establishment and anticlerical side, it has always been seen with disapproving eyes by the authorities, especially the Catholic Church, to the extent that it was repressed during the long decades of the Franco dictatorship. In places like Las Palmas, however, the Carnival spirit was so strong that it continued to be celebrated - in secret, almost in hiding.

The Las Palmas Carnival Queen Gala is an odd affair, dazzling, and showbusinesslike at the same time as being a kind of cultural event. For it the Carnival Queen is elected less for her own beauty (though she is always a bonny lass) than for her costume, a huge, glittery, sculptured affair the size of a truck, into which she is fitted rather than the other way around. The designers of these costumes are celebrities, far more so than the girls, who only compete for one or two years while the designers take part year after year.

Carnival ends with another satirical event, the Entierro de la Sardina, Burial of the Sardine, again a mocking, anticlerical affair which strictly speaking should take place on Ash Wednesday. But in Las Palmas, they like to squeeze another weekend's partying out of Carnaval, so the Burial of the Sardine is held on the Saturday after Carnival Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) - this year, February 9th.