Las Palmas Carnival, Carnaval de la Palma 2012, Gran Canaria

You are here - Events » Las Palmas Carnival

Las Palmas Carnival / Carnval de la Palma 2012

Dates
3rd of Feb to the 21st of Feb 2012 (Parade 18th)
Location

Las Palmas, Gran Carnival
http://www.lpacarnaval.com/

Description

Gran Canaria's party of the year is the annual Las Palmas Carnival, spanning three weeks prior to the start of Lent. Don't miss the famous Drag Queen Day (Gala Gran Dama),

The carnival runs from the 18th of Feb to the 12th of March 2011. The key events include:

Official Opening - February 18, 2011 22:00 at Parque Santa Catalina
Drag Queen Gala - March 04, 2011 21:00 at Parque Santa Catalina
The Queens Gala - February 25, 2011 21:00 at Parque Santa Catalina
Grand Parade - March 05, 2011 17:00 at La Isleta
The Sun Carnival - March 08, 2011 12:00 at Playa de Las Canteras
The Sardines FUneral - March 12, 2011 19:00 at Playa de Las Canteras

Las Palmas Carnival is a long-standing tradition on the island, although Franco did his best to spoil the party until his death in 1975. Many of the events are fancy dress parties and beauty pageants in which a carnival queen, a children's carnival queen and even a "more mature" carnival queen are elected. Naturally, with that amount of lipstick and glamour, the drag queens come in hot pursuit of a title.

Las Palmas Carnival

0 Each year the Drag Queen contest takes a different theme. The costumes become more and more outrageous as the years go by and the competition gets increasingly fierce. Concerts by internationally renowned stars like Grace Jones and Gloria Gaynor have fuelled its popularity. In fact, in the last few years there have been so many entrants that now a pre-selection is made prior to the main competition.

Merely getting dressed up to the nines is not enough to be crowned queen of Las Palmas Carnival. Contestants must also sing a song of their choice to the adoring crowds. Such efforts reap great rewards, as all the crowned queens take pride of place on the grandest floats that parade down the streets of Las Palmas during the main parade - the Gran Cavalgata .

Las Palmas Carnival

The pre-Lent Carnivals on the Canary Islands differ from those on the mainland, which usually stop on Ash Wednesday. The Canary Islanders stall their period of Lenten abstinence for a few days until the velatorio which is a day of mourning for the sardine - the symbol of good living and carnival. A huge sardine is pushed through the streets as everyone marches behind in funeral costume. The following day, the giant sardine is buried in the sand on the beach to a fanfare of fireworks, bonfires and, of course, all-night parties.