Carnaval

The 'Welcome to Rota' book has a section explaining all the local holidays and fiestas. The text here is an excerpt from my book. The photos are not mine.

Carnaval

            The date for this celebration changes each year, because it is the week (or weeks) leading up to Ash Wednesday. Usually it is in late February or early March. In the United States, New Orleans is known for their Mardi Gras celebration. In Spain, Cádiz is the center of Carnaval activities. Carnaval is a riotous celebration of music, costumes, and of course food and drink. For a week or more, there are public and private celebrations in every town. Everyone dresses up in crazy costumes, similar to an adult Halloween party. There are parades, comedic musical performances, food tastings, and costume competitions. Transportation like busses and ferries run all night long to transport drunken revelers to and from the events. It is not a particularly child-friendly event, and in Cádiz especially there are huge pressing crowds. But there are smaller parades and celebrations in all the local towns, so you don’t have to go to Cádiz to join in some great fun. Rota and Puerto both have small celebrations, and Chipiona’s is particularly well-known and family-friendly.

 

In Cadiz, huge colorful floats covered with singers and performers process through crowded streets in the Grand Parade.

Food is an important part of Carnaval, and each city has different tasting opportunities.

Small performing groups are everywhere. They always dress in a similar theme, sometimes medieval, sometimes something like scary Halloween costumes, and other times just crazy colors. Also, men love to dress up as women at Carnaval.

Cities usually have at least one child-friendly event, like a children's parade.

Every city has a Carnaval Grand Master, a Queen, and her court of princesses. In Rota, the little girls are called ninfas.