Carnival is a celebration that occurs all around the world. In fact, if you look hard enough, you can find a carnival celebration for every month of the year.
For those lucky enough to score cheap flights to Spain in the coming weeks, it is good to know that Madrid will be celebrating Carnival whole-heartedly in 2012…as it does each and every year. With an unusually early Lent, the 2012 party will get underway during the second week in February.
Given the lively nightlife culture of the people of Madrid -- one where they don't roll home until after sunrise -- and the fact that it has been celebrated here since Medieval times, you can be sure that a Carnival season here is going to be unforgettable.
Madrid's Carnival Events
Think a rainbow of masks, costumes, parades, dancing and celebrating to no end. In Madrid, Carnival holds all of these visually stimulating and captivating activities. There are shows and events for children, and there are drinking and gourmet food celebrations for the adults.
Costume Parties and Masked Balls: The most popular and fanciest of the fancy dress parties (costume parties as we would call them) takes place at the Círculo de Bellas Artes. This party features a masked ball, as well as live music and DJ performances.
People tend to use Carnival as a time to transform themselves... into anything. People dress up as animals, men dress up like women, and it all adds up to one big spectacle.
The Burial of The Sardine: One big event that happens in Madrid (and a few other Spanish cities), is the Burial of the Sardine at the end of Carnival on Ash Wednesday. In this event, a big ceremonial sardine is paraded across town, mimicking a funeral procession, before being buried or burned. The idea of this procession is supposed to represent a burial of the past of the city and the ability to be reborn. The burial also coincides with the start of Lent.
Surviving Madrid During Carnival
If you're thinking about visiting Madrid during Carnival, there are a number of factors to consider:
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CC Flickr photo credit: Alonso Javier Torres
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