Between the 10th of February and 5th of March Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will be transformed and devoted for another year to live one of the oldest festivals of the capital of Gran Canaria, the carnivals. This rooted festival also enjoys international fame attracting an immense number of tourists.
The first direct references to the Carnival in the city dates to the 16th century, specifically with the masks and disguises parties celebrated at the nobility’s weddings. Also, there are other historical references alluding to the presence of Italians in the city and their fondness for the parties of maskes.
The festival lives its first important leap in the mid-nineteenth century with the emerge of socio-cultural institutions such as the Círculo Mercantil , the Gabinete Literario and the Las Palmas Club, which celebrated parties including a parade of floats around the city’s historic quarter.
After a period of repression and prohibition of the carnival that lasted 40 years by the Franco period, in 1976 the carnival returns to the streets of the city and a cavalcade of disguises could be celebrated in the popular district of La Isleta. It is in 1995 that the celebrations of the main events are transferred to the Santa Catalina Park which has been consolidated throughout all this time as the core centre of the carnivals.
Another historic milestone that makes a turning point in the recent history of the carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is in 1998 when the first Drag Queen Gala was celebrated and surpassed all expectations. Since then has become a reference and a card of presentation of the parties abroad.
Since then, Carnival has become the festivity with the greatest social and economic impact of the island of Gran Canaria and one of its main tourist attractions. A celebration that has been able to adapt to the new demands of leisure, entertainment and spectacle while retaining all its popular flavour.
This edition of Carnival will revolve under the theme of the Eternal Spring, inspired by the hippie movement, the colourful flowers and music of the 60s and 70s that will kick off on February 10 in the Plaza de Santa Ana with the proclamation ceremony, to continue with a full schedule of fun for three weeks and that will have as main parties:
- the Vegueta’s Carnival on Saturday February 18th
- the Queen Gala (Friday 24),
- the Drag Queen Gala on Monday February 27th
- The Santa Catalina’s Carnival on Tuesday February 28th
- the Great Cavalcade on Saturday March 4th, and
- The Burial of the Sardine on March 5th.
Check the complete agenda in this link: http://lpacarnaval.com/en/programa/icalrepeat.detail/2017/02/25/52/-/-
