24 June 2010
Posted in Things to do in Tenerife

Every week there seems to be a new carnival or fiesta somewhere in Tenerife, but the highlight of the year is the Santa Cruz carnival (named locally as Carnaval - Santa Cruz de Tenerife) which is truly a spectacular event.

As with all carnivals, which are religious in their nature and especially in their origins, carnival season is based around the religious calendar around the time of Lent i.e. 40 days before Easter. This is normally in February, but be careful as it does vary somewhat.

The carnival itself is one of the biggest and most spectacular events in the world, attracting over a million visitors and participants, and is second only to the Rio de Janeiro carnival held in Brazil. For this very reason, Santa Cruz is twinned with Rio de Janeiro and the Santa Cruz carnival is under also consideration for being declared a UNESCO world heritage site.

Set in Tenerife’s capital city of Santa Cruz this spectacular event should not be missed. The main celebrations take place around the public square known as Plaza de España and along the seafront.

The carnival parade gives everyone the chance to dress up and there are very few inhabitants of Tenerife who do not prepare their costumes for this happy event.

Although the main carnival takes place over a week around Ash Wednesday, the parties last for around 3 weeks, so there is no excuse for missing any of the fun. There are also fiestas in each of the villages and small towns in Tenerife - and each offers its own unique identity and experience.

The carnival season is a wonderful blessing for tourists to Tenerife due to the fact that the south of the island has a climate that will enable tourists to take time on the beach and swim in the sea, whilst being overlooked by the snow-clad summit of the ever watching Mount Teide. The north of the island also offers stunningly verdant scenery at this time of year – allowing visitors to experience beautiful scenery, beach life, snow and some of the best partying on offer – all in the same visit! Being as geared up as Tenerife is for tourism, finding hotels and accommodation is not so much of a problem. Any difficulties with finding accommodation in Santa Cruz itself can be offset my staying in one of the nearby resorts.

It can be easy to forget the religious nature of the carnival. As Lent comes 40 days before Easter, the carnival season is designed as a celebration, a letting down of the hair - in advance of Lent and the time of fasting. In fact the meaning of the word “carnival” derives from the phrase “for meat to go or be removed” – and in Lent rich and fatty foods like meat are not consumed. Therefore, in advance of Lent, all stocks of these products were eaten in a large feast prior to Lent which has evolved into today’s carnivals. For these reasons, the carnival season is full with masses of people shedding the everyday worries of their lives, dressing up in costumes, parading in carnival processions and on floats, feasting and generally letting go and partying hard. For some reason cross-dressing is all the rage for carnival costumes and the effort taken with these over the top costumes is truly amazing.

Attending the carnival is free to all, so nobody has to miss the processions or the fireworks. Some concerts are charged for though and there is always a queue for tickets to these events which are mostly held in Plaza Weyler, Plaza del Príncipe, and Plaza de la Candelaria. Most of the main festivities however, are held in Plaza de España. To this day, the public concert in the carnival of 1987 of Cuba’s Celia Cruz, holds the Guinness book of world records title for the largest number of people congregated in a public plaza, or square, for a concert - with 250,000 attending.

There is pretty much a full month of activities; including many fireworks displays, exhibitions, concerts, costume competitions and dancing in the streets to music from all over the world. In 1987, the parliament of the Canary Islands held an emergency session to create a law to allow them to temporarily suspend the Spanish national laws on evening noise in residential areas in cases where the law acts contrary to public interest. Guess what it was used for?

The Carnival starts on the Wednesday before Ash Wednesday with the election of the Carnival Queen, but in truth the whole process starts even before Christmas with the announcement of the official carnival poster, always a subject of major discussion. Between this time and the opening of festivities, there are competitions for musicians, children and evening an elderly queen!

Typical Carnival Agenda

The agenda for the main week of carnival is normally as follows...

Wednesday – Gala for the Carnival Queen Election

This is broadcast to the entire nation and the candidate is chosen from many contenders by local officials, celebrities and in recent years by the public using SMS. Some of the costumes, made from metal, plastic, paper and feathers, can weigh up to 100 kg!

Friday – Carnival Parade to Celebrate the Carnival and the Carnival Queen

This is called the announcement parade and for four hours, accompanied by loud Latin carnival music, floats carrying the Carnival Queen and her “bridesmaids” travel through the city beginning at Parque La Granja and finishing at the Plaza de España with a huge fireworks display. They are accompanied by private floats and floats carrying the other carnival participants (murgas and rondallas). These floats are decorated in an amazingly over the top way with flashing lights and everything else imaginable! The end of this parade is the official start of the street carnival which is signalled by a huge fireworks display.

Saturday – Carnival Dance Party

Traditionally the Saturday is given over entirely to dance. The Plaza de España and the Plaze del Príncipe have stages and also either the Plaza de Europa (in the gay area) or the Plaza de la Inglesia de la Concepción. Latin dance music permeates the atmosphere in these three venues all day and night, and in all the bars in the connecting streets especially in the popular Calle San José.

Monday – Big Day of the Feast

Monday sees more huge performances all over the main sites in the city. The Santa Cruz Dance Carnival blasts electronic dance music out from the Plaza de la Candelaria assisted by many world famous DJ’s. As you can imagine, this is a huge attraction of the carnival for many.

Tuesday – The Great Parade Day

The greata parade – or Apotheosis Coso happens on the Tuesday. Once more the carnival groups, decorated floats and the carnival queen take part in a huge parade that goes through the Avenida de Anaga. This parade marks the official end of carnival, but in the best sense of “one for the road”, the afternoon sees a special show performed for the tourists of the island with buses and ferries coming into town from all the major resorts in Tenerife and the other Canary Islands.

Ash Wednesday – The Burial of the Sardine

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, and the streets of Santa Cruz are more sombre as a procession carries a symbolic paper sardine in a mock funeral. The significance of this intriguing story is thought to be symbolic of the farewell to good food for the duration of Lent.

Saturday and Sunday – Piñata

With so many official “end of carnivals”, at last we come to the unofficial end! This weekend has grown substantially in recent years and now has a similar international recognition as Carnival Monday. On the Saturday there are musical performances in the three plazas of Plaza Weyler, Plaza del Príncipe, and Plaza de la Candelaria. And the Sunday sees a classic car procession and contest with yet another evening of partying along with another amazing fireworks display.

Images of the Tenerife Carnival in Santa Cruz

(click for full size)