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Here Comes Carnival

January 10, 2017

Carnival is a massive celebration across Spain and particularly in the Canaries, where the capital of the most populous island in the archipelago, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, plays host to one million revelers every year. And if you’re renting one of our villas in Lanzarote over the next month then there’s also plenty of action for you to enjoy here too, as the event rolls out across the main towns and resorts over the course of February and March.

Carnival has its roots in old pagan rituals that celebrated the transition from dark to light as we emerged from the depths of winter. And over the centuries it is also acquired a quasi-religious gloss, especially in the Hispanic Catholic world, where it has also assumed significance as something of a binge or beano prior to the onset of Lent.

Traditionally it has also had quite subversive connotations too, its masks and costumes facilitating a reversal in traditional social roles and a usurping of normal behavioral boundaries. In modern day parlance this translates into carnival costumes that often cock a snoot at authority figures, particularly those from the political arena, allied with epic over indulgence on a grand scale. So what’s not to like?

On Lanzarote the event gets underway in the island capital of Arrecife over the course of the last weekend in January, with the main carnival procession taking place on February 8th from 18.00, when a host of floats and batacuda drum bands will wend their way from the city’s sports stadium and through the crowded streets packed with costumed revelers to the Recinto Ferial on the seafront.

Carnival then rolls into the island’s largest tourist resort, Puerto del Carmen, on February 11th before finally reaching us down here in Playa Blanca in early March.

Each local carnival event has its own theme and in Playa Blanca the key influence is the Feria Andalusia, so expect lots of very traditional southern Spanish costumes and touches. Most of the action will be taking place in the Plaza del Carmen in the centre of the resort and the main procession will be taking place on Sunday March 6th.

Lots of visitors book their breaks to coincide with Carnival and if you’re staying in Playa Blanca then and want to get involved then start planning your costume now!

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