In February Spain goes carnival crazy, with parades, meringue fights and feasts – and the best part is that anyone can get involved

The scene is a swirl of colour and noise, with music, whistles, singing and shouting blending together to signal the arrival of that special time in the Spanish calendar – the carnaval.

Brilliantly coloured feathers and skimpy sparkling clothes in bright colours are de rigeur for the flamboyant processions parading down the palm-lined streets against a backdrop of mountains and cloud-scudded blue skies. The carnival queen, dwarfed by an elaborate costum,e is carried on a float, followed by people on foot dressed as anything from pirates to exotic peacock-like creatures.

The setting is Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which boasts arguably one of the biggest and best carnivals in the world after those in Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad and Venice.

Peter Hornby, a tour guide who lives in Tenerife, describes it as “an exotic, exciting extravaganza, which, once experienced, will never be forgotten”. He saw his first carnival four years ago, when, with typical British reserve, he opted out of dressing up.

“I was enjoying the spectacle as the square filled up with laughing people dressed as monsters, nuns and fish among other things, when suddenly I found I was the only one wearing jeans and a t-shirt,” he says. “I suddenly felt out of place, like a wallflower on the edge of the world’s best party, and ever since then I have joined in by dressing up and diving into the all-night street parties.”

Although at the age of 44 he finds the endless celebrations of carnival time exhausting – last year he watched three parades and danced the night away at four different street parties - he also finds it hard to kick the habit. “Every year the hype of the carnival queen elections gets to me and as soon as I hear the pulsating Latino music the centre of town, I am ready to leave the house with whatever costume I can throw together,” he said.
The Gala Reina – the selection of the carnival queen – marks the official start of the Santa Cruz carnival. It is a huge event with stars such as Sofia Loren and Gerard Depardieu in attendance, as girls parade across the stage in fantastical costumes made of beads, satin and feathers that weigh up to 200kg.

For the man in the street, the Mogollones - open-air carnival parties featuring live entertainment with Latin and salsa music – are the place to be at carnival time. While glamour, imagination and extravagance are key for the beauty contests and grand parades, here you are more likely to find yourself rubbing shoulders with men in blonde wigs and tutus and waving plastic cups full of beer. The parties, attended by thousands of costume-clad revellers, start late and go on until dawn, when people abandon the litter-strewn streets to sleep off the excesses of the night before, and to prepare for the night to come.

   
The same rowdy, frenetic partying can be found in other cities around Spain during carnival time. In Cadiz, it appears as if the usually quiet and sedate town has been infected by madness. Music is king for the week and it is impossible to walk through the streets without running into groups of people in identical costumes singing satirical songs, choirs performing on open carts and amateur actors bringing theatre to the street corners. Many visitors resort to sleeping on park benches or staying up all night rather than trying to achieve the impossible task of finding a hotel room for the night.

Read the full article in our February 2009 issue.