| Celebration of Carnival was
banned in both Spain and Portugal during their respective,
parallel dictatorships: those of Franco and Salazar. The reasons
are not difficult to see: Carnival is the most irreverent,
subversive, authority-defying of festivals. So it is not surprising
that rebellious, defiant Cadiz, the home of the liberal constitution
of 1812, has a Carnival to match.
Carnival in the Canary Islands
Why Carnival in the Canary Islands, particularly Las Palmas
and Tenerife,
should be so important is less easy to see. But as a half-way
point between the Old and New Worlds and an essential stopping-off
place for ships to stock up during centuries, the Canary Islands
have historic links with the Caribbean and South America and
in some ways more in common with those places than with Europe.
Carnival on Tenerife is said to be second only to that in
Rio de Janeiro, though you are entitled to take this with
a pinch of salt, and is looked forward to all year. The high
point is the election of the Queen of the Carnival in Santa
Cruz, a televised event. The contenders wear unbelievably
elaborate, designer-engineered costumes with huge, gravity-defying
headdresses which tend to wobble precariously. These costumes
are immensely heavy, so that sometimes the girls actually
have to be pulled around the stage on trolleys, looking as
well as if they were in real danger of suffering severe neck
damage.
Much less serious in spirit but nearly as impressive in scale
is the drag-queen version in Las
Palmas. Be warned that if you attend this without
cross-dressing, you are liable to find yourself on the receiving
end of seriously disapproving stares.
Cadiz and the Burial of the
Sardine
Carnival in Cadiz is a less touristy affair but no less jubilant.
Cadiz is famous for the sense of humour of its citizens and
Carnival is a festival in which authority, politicians, celebrities
and the church are parodied and ridiculed. The central figures
here are the choirs, agrupaciones, groups of
between three and forty singers. Current events or personalities
are mocked in comic song. The Concurso
del Falla is a song festival held in the Gran
Teatro Falla before Carnival
itself and is, to a certain extent, a serious choral competition.
The most popular type of group is the chirigota,
a group normally of ten unison or close-harmony singers, accompanied
by bombo, caja (drum, box (used as a percussion
instrument)) and guitar. Their repertoire is the most satirical
of the different types of groups and the literary quality
of the songs can be very high, as they may be written by local
authors. Only a few musical forms such as the tango or
pasodoble are used, so that everyone knows the tune and can
concentrate on the words. Another important form is the tanguillo
de Cadiz, considered a type of flamenco and also called
the tanguillo de carnaval, so closely linked is it
to this festival.
When Carnival itself is under way, these groups and choirs
are to be found in all corners of the city or participating
in parades, vying with each other and with the ilegales,
groups which have not taken part in the Concurso.
Evidently, your Spanish needs to be pretty hot to fully understand
the jokes and parodies, but even if it is not, you will find
it difficult not to get carried away with the general high
spirits. Fancy
dress is more or less obligatory, especially on the Sunday
when the major procession, the cabalgata magna, is
held.
Nor would you be disappointed if you were to take in Carnival
at many other places in Spain and Portugal, such as Las
Palmas or Madeira, or practically anywhere in the peninsula.
Although there may be processions on the Saturday after Carnival,
in Spain it has really ended by Ash Wednesday, when in many
places it is marked by a historically anti-clerical ceremony
called the Entierro de la sardina, the burial of the
sardine. This may be life-size or a large effigy and the funeral
procession is likely to be attended by groups of mourners
in mock grief, many dressed up as priests or nuns, who, if
they are really lamenting anything, it is the end of the Carnival.
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