Carnival in Spain and Portugal - Gaiety and Satire

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 really lamenting anything, are grieving for the end of Carnival.