This year, Carnaval was celebrated on the first weekend of March in Madrid (March 4th-6th). It is usually celebrated the end of February but it depends on the calendar year. Carnaval originated as a Roman Catholic holiday. It takes place roughly six weeks from Easter, so right before the 40 days of Lent. The Lenten period is typically a time of of fasting and penetencial practices without celebration. So it used to be a common practice to get rid of all the rich food and drink before Lent. This was usually done in the way of a big celebration, or party- thus thought to be the origin of Carnaval.
The Carnaval celebration is popular throughout Europe and the biggest Carnaval celebration in the world is held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Carnaval is much more popular in the southern Andulcia region of Spain- especially in the city of Càdiz as well as Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Carnaval essentially is a public celebration with parades and festivities. It´s a street party and an excuse to dress up in costumes and go wild. Many people use the celebration to "criticize" current events around the world. They will express this in the imagination of the costumes, more than the glamorous dressings. It is traditional to paint the face with lipstick as a humble substitute of a mask.
Seeing as I am in the capital of Spain I figured there would be a grand celebration and not only would I see many costumes but many street parties. Wrong. I later talked to come of my Madrileño (people from Madrid) friends who told me that since Madrid is such a modern, industrilized city that not very many people celebrate the festival. So here I was on Friday, March 4th, getting all dressed up, applying crazy make-up and securing a multi-colored wig on my head....only to find out hours later that we were WAY in the minority of people celebrating. We went to a bar outside of the main center of Madrid and literally found that we were the ONLY people dressed up in the bar. It didn´t help that all but one of us was American. We ended up looking rather silly. However, decided to embrace our festiviness and flaunt it rather than hide it.
Saturday was a bit better. We went to Sol, the exact center of downtown Madrid and we went to an Irish Pub (where its very common to see many Americans and other foreigners who don´t live in Madrid- as well as the young Madrileños who want to meet these people). We saw quite a few more people dressed up on Saturday night. But rather than outrageous costumes we would see groups of friends all wearing the same costume- dressing up as a duck perhaps or a clown. I wasn´t too impressed. The Irish Pub was also extremely packed. I don´t think capacity limits in bars are enforced here- they literally fit in as many people as they can. Thus you could hardly move and I was weary of getting robbed. I clutched my purse tightly throughout the night and thankfully nothing got stolen from me. My girlfriend, however, was not as lucky as me. She got her jacket (which she had left hanging on a hook in the bar), as well as her camera and phone stolen from her that evening.
Aside from the fact that Carnaval didn't live up to my expectations- it was still an experience. Getting the chance to celebrate a holiday that isn't celebrated in your native country is still a bit thrilling.
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