Carnaval

What a week it has been! For the past few days the island has been gripped with carnaval fever, the famous celebration that marks the beginning of Cuaresma (Lent) in the religious calendar. Carnaval is celebrated all over Spain during February and is hugely popular here in Ibiza.  I expected the fiesta would just be one parade but the festivities extended over a whole week with endless events all over the island.

Essentially, carnaval is based around one thing; fancy dress. And lots of it. At school, this was taken very seriously. Every day last week, the children (and teachers) had to come in wearing a different piece of fancy dress, first something around your waist, then your neck etc. This culminated in a full blown costume by the Thursday. The students loved it and took every opportunity they could to show me their groovy tie or hula skirt. All sorts of things had been pulled out of the cupboards. It was quite a sight to see every classroom full of outrageous dress-up items and was inevitably a big distraction from the lessons. The teachers embraced it all in great spirit and had no shame in sporting their own outfits. One group decided to come in as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, (Snow White played by a male teacher) including a very impressive costume of the evil queen. I have never seen a school take dressing up so seriously, it was quite something!  The Thursday was full of fun; parents made tortillas for the children to enjoy during break (for some reason tortilla is what’s typically eaten during carnival) and prizes were given to the best/most original costumes. Needless to say everyone was pretty worn out by the end of the week.

This wasn’t the only carnival celebration at Can Raspalls. In Ibiza, every municipality hosts their own rua, (parade) where each school is represented. Can Raspalls were participating in Sant Josep’s parade that Saturday and, embracing the celebrations, I decided to sign up. The idea is that each school thinks of a theme and dresses up accordingly. The parents association had the task of organising costumes and set up workshops after school to make them. As this year is ‘The Year of Light,’ they decided to base the costumes around renewable energy; the adults dressing up as solar panels and the children as suns. I was initially a sceptical when I heard of the plan but the costumes actually turned out pretty good. On the Saturday a group of teachers, parents and students (and me) met in Sant Josep all dressed up and ready for the parade. I spent the morning as solar panel; dancing through the streets behind our decorated truck blaring loud music. Confetti was thrown, the crowds cheered, it was a great day!

And the fun didn’t stop there. Saturday night was when everyone went out to party in fancy dress.  The town was teaming with life, bars packed with people in silly costumes, I had never seen Ibiza so busy! Carnival is not only appealing to children, the older generation take it as an opportunity to  party and are just as keen to dress up.  The following morning was the most popular event of them all: the rua (parade) in Ibiza. People streamed in to town from all over the island and lined the main streets ready to watch the procession. I don’t really know what I was expecting but I was blown away by the display. The amount of effort put in to costumes, chorography and the decoration of the floats was incredible! From Avatar to Aladdin to people dressed as sushi, they had thought of it all. The majority of the groups who took part were dance schools who put on impressive performances, clearly planned months in advance. The best parade won 1,000 euros, which any of them would have deserved.

After the rua, people stayed to enjoy the celebrations in town. There was a tent with live music and Vaya del Rey was full of food stalls, including the biggest tray of paella I had ever seen. Thanks to the Ayuntamiento, for only 2 euros you could get a full plate of the stuff; 2 euros well spent.  By the end of the weekend I was exhausted. Carnival has left so many impressions and is definitely the longest and most dynamic fiesta I have ever experienced. If this is what a small island can pull off I can’t imagine what goes on in the big cities! The Spanish really go crazy for carnaval….