Carnaval(Lễ hội Carnival) tại 🇪🇸 Tây Ban Nha

Spain celebrates Carnival with distinctive regional traditions that vary dramatically from one part of the country to another. The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands is the most famous, rivaling Rio de Janeiro in scale and spectacle. The two-week festival features elaborate costume competitions, street parades, murgas (satirical music groups), and comparsas (dance troupes).

The election and coronation of the Carnival Queen is the centerpiece of Tenerife's celebrations. Contestants wear fantastical costumes that can weigh over 100 kilograms and feature towering headdresses, intricate beadwork, and enormous feathered structures. The gala event is broadcast nationally and draws comparison to the world's greatest costume spectacles. The Coso, the main parade, fills the streets with floats, music, and tens of thousands of costumed revelers.

Cadiz in Andalusia hosts a Carnival with a completely different character, centered on wit, humor, and musical satire. Chirigotas, comic groups that perform original satirical songs mocking politicians and social issues, are the heart of Cadiz Carnival. The Falla Theatre hosts the prestigious chirigota competition, and the winning groups achieve celebrity status. The humor is sharp, irreverent, and deeply rooted in the Andalusian tradition of wordplay.

Other notable Spanish Carnivals include Sitges near Barcelona, known for its flamboyant LGBTQ+ celebrations, and Laza in Galicia, which features the Peliqueiros, costumed figures who chase townspeople with whips and throw flour and ants. The Burial of the Sardine ceremony on Ash Wednesday, where a sardine effigy is mourned and cremated, marks the end of Carnival across Spain with theatrical solemnity and humor.

Pre-Lenten festival celebrated with parades, masquerades, music, and dancing in the days before Ash Wednesday, most famously in Rio de Janeiro, Venice, and New Orleans.