The next couple of months will see cities around world erupt in a global celebration collectively known as Carnival, Carnaval or Carnevale depending on where you are. These pre-Lent festivities take place throughout the Latin world, into the Caribbean and as far away as Europe, mainly in the days and weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 25 in 2009. Carnival has its origins in ancient Greek and Roman festivities that commemorated the coming of spring and the modern events may be diverse in their manifestations and expressions of revelry, but they share a common theme of celebration through music, dance and costume.
Perhaps the best known on a global scale is the Carnaval of Rio de Janeiro. If your vacation days and budget don't stretch far enough to let you attend Carnaval in Rio this year, or you are looking for something a little different there are several options you can still consider.
1. Carnaval de Barranquilla, February 21-24, 2009
Join the fiesta in Barranquilla and celebrate Carnaval Colombian style. This port city on the Caribbean coastline is a major industrial center and often gets overlooked by tourists heading for the more picturesque Cartagena. But in February, all eyes turn to this city of a million residents for its flamboyant and hypnotic celebration of the Carnaval. Although only officially four days long, preparations and events actually commence much earlier and even if you can't be there for Carnaval itself, you're likely to get a bit of a taste of what's on offer for the six weeks beforehand.
Each district of the city elects its Carnaval Queen and each Friday and Saturday leading up to Carnaval, dances and parties are held in "casetas" and parades are held in the streets as locals begin gearing for the main festivities. On the Friday preceding the official carnival, the "Noche de Guacherna" takes place, a huge procession lit by lanterns, followed by the "Batalla de Maizena" procession the next day. Some highlights of the Carnaval proper include:
- Saturday -- "Batalla de Flores" -- a procession featuring all the queens and ornate floats
- Sunday -- "Gran Parada" -- with traditional musical and dance groups celebrating the rhythms of Colombia
- Monday -- "Festival de Orquestas" - two days of dance competitions with a "congo del oro" awarded to the best musical and dance group
- Tuesday -- Cross-dressing parades where participants mourn the death of the legendary Joselito who apparently danced and made love non-stop for four days before dying (of exhaustion, I assume)
Expect more color, costumes, body paint, music and hip swinging action that you can imagine would ever fit into a four day period. Sleeping is optional. If you understand Spanish, the official Barranquilla Carnaval website (www.carnavaldebarranquilla.org/previo/default.html) is packed with information about events, performers and activities surrounding this annual extravaganza. From Miami, fly Copa Panama (www.copaair.com) with one stop to Barranquilla from $452 including all taxes during the month of February, 2009. Avianca Aerovias (www.avianca.com) fly non-stop out of Miami from $657 including taxes and strangely, it is cheaper to fly with them from New York, from $523 including taxes (with one stop en-route).
2. Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, February 23 & 24, 2009
Although held throughout both islands, Trinidad and Tobago's capital of Port of Spain is the epicenter of its Carnival carousing. The home of steel pan music steps it up a notch with two chaotic and colorful days of dancing in the streets, preceded by weeks of excitement and preparation. Referred to as "playing mas," bands parade and play traditional calypso and ex-tempo to popular soca beats as people "chip" (dance) down the streets on Carnival days. Soca bands also integrate the styles of Jamaican reggae, dancehall and dub into their compositions, along with sampling of pop and hip hop hits giving the pulsating beats a modern feel.
To participate or be part of "playing mas", you can get a costume and reserve a place in any one of a number of "bands" (large dancing groups) -- although the term "costume' may be a stretch as several are skimpy or non-existent, while others may be elaborate and theatrical. Again the two official days are only one part of Carnival. The lead-up starts around February 7 and includes dozens of preliminary music, dance, and ensemble events.
All events are open to the public and take place in a combination of indoor and outdoor venues. On Carnival Monday, the day starts early with a 4am J'Ouvert at South Quay, followed by the Parade of the Bands at Victoria Square and on the streets of Port-of-Spain, and what they call Monday Night Mas, also in Victoria Square. The Carnival reaches its crescendo on Carnival Tuesday (February 24) with another Parade of the Bands, Pan on the Road and the Pan Trinbago Las' Lap on Western Main Road in St James. Don't expect much sleep as the music is loud and continuous. For an exact schedule of events visit www.trinijunglejuice.com/carnivalcorner_events.html.
Fly non-stop to Port of Spain on Caribbean Airlines (www.bwee.com) from Miami or Fort Lauderdale from $321 or out of New York from $711 including all taxes around Carnival time.
3. Aruba Carnival, February 21-24, 2009
The Caribbean islands know how to put on an exciting and entertaining spectacle when it comes to Carnival and Aruba is no exception. This Dutch Antilles resort destination spends weeks preparing elaborate floats and the streets are filled with music from Antillean "tumba" to Calypso and steel bands, Latin salsa beats to Dutch oom-pa-pa. Carnival events include King and Queen elections, jump ups, marching bands and torch light parades that wind their way through the streets at night.
There's the Torch Parade on January 10, the first official parade of the Aruba Carnival with revelers carrying torches forming a procession down the main streets of Oranjestad, often wearing costumes from the previous year. The two-month-long celebration culminates with the all-day Grand Parade on Sunday starting from Avenida Milo J. Croes at 1pm and partying on to the wee morning hours. It's all so exhausting that there is an official public holiday on the Monday so everyone can recover, although there is an event that night -- the ceremonial Old Mask Parade Burning of the Momito in the district of St Nicholas.
Come Tuesday, it starts up again with the Farewell Parade through the streets of Oranjestad and the burning of King Momo (a symbol of flesh, and the origin of the word Carnival from the Latin carne), meaning the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent. It is local tradition that Momo's ashes are used on Ash Wednesday. For more information about Carnival in Aruba, visit the government's tourism website at www.visitaruba.com.
Jet Blue (www.jetblue.com) has non-stop flights to Aruba in February starting from $325 including taxes. From Boston, US Airways (www.usairways.com) flies non-stop from $362 including taxes.
4. Mazatlan Carnaval, February 19-24, 2009
Mazatlan, on the Pacific coastline just across from the southern tip of Baja California, is Mexico's second largest coastal city and home to a huge Carnaval celebration attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. It's also one of the oldest, and has been celebrated more or less in its present form for over a century. For five days and nights, the city comes alive with a more family-oriented version of traditional carnival, complete with literary awards, poetry readings, ballet and various kids' competitions, plus a multitude of musical performances that are family friendly from rock concerts to traditional Northern Mexican bands.
Every night from Thursday to Tuesday, music fills the malecón (ocean-side promenade) running along Olas Altas Beach downtown with roving mariachi bands, dancers, local traditional bandas sinaloenses, and rock bands. Clowns, jugglers and performers on stilts meander among the crowds and children dress up in animal costumes forming a procession down the avenues.
Two flamboyant costume parades take place, one on Sunday at 6:00pm and the other on Tuesday at 4pm, both featuring floats representing mythological figures and pop culture characters past and present, Tambora Sinaloense bands from around the state and the kings and queens of Carnaval, while spectators throw confetti and streamers. Celebrating Mazatlan's navy town status, on the Saturday evening preceding Lent, several ships offshore conduct a mock "Batalla Naval" using fireworks instead of ammunition, lighting up the night sky over the harbor.
Fly to Mazatlan from Los Angeles on Mexicana (www.mexicana.com) from $295 (sometimes with a stop) or non-stop on Alaska Airlines (www.alaskaair.com) from $384 including taxes. Fly from Dallas (via Phoenix) from $375 including taxes on US Airways (www.usairways.com), from Chicago the starting fare is $498 via Houston on Continental Airlines (www.continental.com).