Raindrops and Sunshine: Carnaval in El Hierro

#elhierro #carnaval #islascanarias

Spain is well-known for the love of the fiesta, and Carnaval is perhaps the biggest of them all. This event takes place around March, but official Carnaval takes place at a different time on every island, and every village on that island chooses a separate weekend. This ensures that there is no scheduling conflict, so (ideally) you could spend at least five weeks in a row dancing, dressing up, and having a grand old time. Each fiesta also has its own theme, and Valverde's was "The Four Seasons". Carnaval is the party on islands, so keep scrolling to see some of the highlights of the party on El Hierro!

Carnaval began with another lovely parade throughout town, including all the kids at my school, ages 3 to 11. There were a little over 300 of us, and each class had a different theme to fit with "the four seasons", including butterflies, clouds, raindrops, snowflakes, wind, sunshine, autumn leaves, ladybugs, and rainbows.

The week before, I had stayed after school with the other preschool teachers to make my costume. I dressed with the 5-year olds and was "the wind". :D Just like the kids, I ventured up the hill to the fabric store (the entire line of people all needed various quantities of the exact same white fabric) and got a big piece of thick white fabric to fashion into a sort of poncho/dress garment, hot-glued together and decorated with glitter clouds, wind, rain, and sunshine, complete with a little face. It was very cute and fun to see everyone matching!

The kids' costumes were so cute hanging on the clothesline. Some parents were clearly more devoted than others; some costumes were very simple, without the sides glued together and with only a hole for the head. Meanwhile, others used fancy stitching on the sides and added all sorts of embellishments, like sequins, ribbons, and glitter.

On the big day, no studying was done :) We spent the first hour getting dressed in our black outfits and costumes, as well as putting on headbands, wigs, and, of course, lots of glittery makeup. I learned my new favorite Spanish word--purpurina--glitter!

We had a drumline made up of some of our students (ages 6 to 10), big mascots like Buzz Lightyear and Peppa Pig, and lots and lots of excited kids, teachers, and parents in our parade. And the kids were so cute in all their costumes!

Everyone really got into the Carnaval Parade! The local news station was there, interviewing teachers and some very small children, the local daycare dressed up as rainbows, and the cafeteria workers dressed up like squids!

We all gathered in the plaza in front of the church, where there was plenty of space and everyone had a place to sit and see . . . but then, disaster! It began to rain, fairly hard, and no one was prepared. This island only gets about 11 days of rain a year on average. :D We all rushed into the church--well over 300 people smashed inside. It was very chaotic, with lots of confusion and small children having meltdowns, but eventually the rain let up and we went to the upper church plaza, which is covered by a large tarp and also has a stage. So it all worked out! Plus, I have been reliably informed that it always rains during Carnaval and that this is considered good luck.

Once we all got settled, every class got up on stage and sang a Carnaval song, centered around celebration, costumes, glitter, and party! Every kid at my school sang, and other students from the villages also got to participate. I learned that there are one-room school houses in several villages on the island, where there are less than 20 kids at the whole school. So all the schools got together and sang a song about their villages! :D They were all very cute!

Every participating school got a little trophy from the local government, and it was a very successful beginning to Carnaval overall, despite the hiccup of the rain.

All the teachers dressed up

The next big event was the Gala for the Reina Infantil--a gala to select the young queen of Carnaval. There were five candidates, young girls ages 5-8 (who all happen to go to my school), selected by the local government. The gala was a great spectacle, including a dance performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, an astonishing gymnastics act where a couple climbed up a pole and balanced on their heads and did all sorts of crazy feats, and a clown band called a murga.

Check out some of the show below!

Every candidate for queen had their own theme song, and was paraded out in a very elaborate dress/parade float. They were sponsored by different businesses and organizations in town, and all won at least €50 for their participation. The winner was just 5 years old, dressed in glittery blue and surrounded by polar bears to evoke winter (even though this child has certainly never seen snow), and she won €100.

It was certainly a grand show! Check out some of the performances below.

After the queen was announced, we all went to the church plaza to have more of the clown band, a murga from Gran Canaria. It was a very neat performance, full of harmonies and passion!

The next day, we had the official parade of Carnaval, featuring all the young queens, lots and lots of fun costumes, and parade floats. There were people on stilts, rainclouds, an elders group dressed as bumblebees, the ever-present drumline, many many boomboxes, and much more!

That night, the party continued with live performances and DJs in both main plazas in Valverde. I met one guy who said he was getting tired, but that he lived right above the plaza so that he might as well be physically at the party because it would follow him home anyway :) There were also sugar-roasted almonds, Peppa Pig and Minion lollipops, and more fun costumes!

The final event of Carnaval was el Entierro de la Sardina: the burial of the fish. This symbolizes the end of the party, and we did it with my school. There was a giant paper-mache fish covered with glittery scales and filled with newspaper, and we all dressed in black to mourn his passing. He was carried all the way to the church, and then the grand funeral was held--the burning of the fish!

I have seen a burning of the fish before, in 2015 when I studied abroad in Burgos, Spain. Both times I have been struck by a notable lack of fire safety. The one in Burgos was much larger and filled with fireworks. Ours was filled with newspaper and the burning was much calmer. However, our fish was placed very close to buildings, in a large field of dry grass. So, still not super up to what I think of as fire code. :D

After the burning of the fish, we all gathered in the plaza and a children's performer sang interactive songs with lots of jumping and dancing. We also had fish sandwiches and gofio (the very Canarian sweet corn meal thing) before we paraded back.

Carnaval was a great time, full of dancing, music, drumming, glitter, and many creative costumes, but I am beat! I don't know how people do this for an entire month!

¡Hasta la próxima!