Scott Schonauer / S&S
A woman sells balloons after a parade in Cádiz, Spain. Carnivals, known as "carnavales" in Spain, are held in towns throughout the country, but Cádiz's is the oldest and is considered one of the best.
Scott Schonauer / S&S
A woman sings as part of a street group during last year’s Carnival in Cádiz, Spain. Satirical songs are a big part of the festivities.
Scott Schonauer / S&S
A float of dancing women combines color, movement and scanty costumes.
Scott Schonauer / S&S
A Carnival reveler wearing a devil mask clutches a wad of confetti in Cádiz, Spain, during a parade last year.
Scott Schonauer / S&S
Carnival revellers walk home after a long night of partying in Cádiz.
The crowd formed at the end of the plaza in Cádiz, Spain, as everyone within earshot of the drumbeat clamored to see.
On the post office steps, a group dressed as toy soldiers sang a satirical tune in Spanish.
Many people laughed so hard they appeared to pull a muscle. Others, however, meekly smiled with no idea what was so funny other than maybe the flamboyant costumes. Even those fluent in Spanish didn’t get the punch lines.
When a local man watching was asked what it all meant, he didn’t try to translate.
“You wouldn’t understand it if I told you,” he said.
Call it a Cádiz thing.
No matter. Or as they say, “No importa.”
Understanding the songs’ witty choruses and clever lyrics is not essential to enjoying Carnival in Cádiz. Being there is enough.
The city’s biggest street festival entertains on each corner. There is something on every block, sort of like standing in the middle ring of a three-ring circus, except for the fact that most of the performers are loopy on sherry.
To the outsider, it is a mixture of debauchery, satire, bedlam and people -- lots of people. The organizers claim the pre-Lenten festival is the third largest in the world, behind Rio de Janeiro and Trinidad.
While that might be hard to confirm, there is no doubt it is a huge event.
Each year, tens of thousands of people, many of them from out of town, come to Cádiz (pronounced CA-deeth) to enjoy the processions, costumes, song groups and the wild all-night drinking marathons in the historic section.
Everything officially starts on Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 24 this year, but there are activities that begin in early January. While many Carnivals end the day before the beginning of Lent, the party goes on several more days in Cádiz.
The event is so popular that cities throughout southern Spain schedule their Carnivals around it. In Spain, the coastal city’s party is rivaled only by Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
While this Carnival lacks the glitter of Rio de Janeiro’s or the exhibitionism of Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, revelers make up for the lack of flashing flesh and sequin pasties with humor and dancing.
Revelers usually choose a costume that mocks the famous and infamous. No celebrity or politician is off limits. And nothing is considered tasteless.
It’s like Halloween without the blood and gore.
On one corner last year, a man dressed as Saddam Hussein jokingly fought with another dressed as President Bush.
Some of the costumes border on the obscene. One reveler, dressed as a Catholic priest, seemed innocent enough until he opened his black gown to expose his oversized latex genitalia. He kept asking people if they wanted to “go to confession.”
Men dressed in skimpy women’s clothing are everywhere and by far represent the most popular costume. There is no apparent reason why everyone wears a costume other than it is fun, especially when it is at the expense of someone in authority.
However, the groups that attract the most attention are the chirigotas, bands of about a dozen people who sing the satirical tributes. They usually consist of several harmony singers, a drummer and a couple of guitarists.
They roam the streets and often compete for attention.
The official choral competition, Consurso de Falla, is held at the Gran Teatro de la Falla. Groups with as many as 40 people perform in well-rehearsed productions. The show is televised across Spain and watched by many who do not have the time to attend each competition.
The songs and skits are all in good fun, but the groups have long been a thorn in the side of government leaders.
Cádiz has the oldest Carnival in Spain, having started in the 17th century. Residents copied Carnavale in Venice, Italy, a port city that had close ties with Cádiz at the time.
During the country’s civil war in the 1930s, Gen. Francisco Franco banned Carnival in certain areas because of its anti-authority theme. In 1937, he abolished it.
In Cádiz, however, the party never stopped. Today, the town of 160,000 people begins planning six months in advance for the parades and the singing showdowns at the theater.
The local newspaper, the Diario de Cádiz, dedicates an entire section of the paper each day to Carnival, or Carnaval.
While the nighttime partying portion is largely for adults, there are afternoon events for everyone. A queen is crowned each year with much fanfare in the Plaza de San Antonio.
Restaurants offer specials on seafood and thousands of people line the main street to see the parades, which are held on the Sunday before and Sunday after Ash Wednesday. People on the floats throw confetti or sometimes candy to the children.
While most cities in southern Spain immediately prepare for spring fairs after Carnival season, residents in Cádiz take a well-deserved rest.
Who can blame them?
After partying nonstop for more than a week, most could use some time to recover.
And that’s something any Carnival reveler would understand.
This article is provided courtesy of Stars & Stripes, which got its start as a newspaper for Union troops during the Civil War, and has been published continuously since 1942 in Europe and 1945 in the Pacific. Stripes reporters have been in the field with American soldiers, sailors and airmen in World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia and Kosovo, and are now on assignment in the Middle East. Stars & Stripes Website
