Carnival 2010

Team Finestrat travelled to the island of Tenerife to play a match last week. We won that match. Yay! We also were able to participate in Carnival, a huge party in the street with thousands of people. That is how I would describe it. When I think of Carnival I always imagine Brazil or Trinidad. I think of elaborate costumes, half-dressed woman with tons of makeup, and non-stop partying. In the summer of 2007 I had the opportunity to travel to Toronto and go to Caribana; their version of Carnival. But what is Carnival exactly. I decided to do some research.


Carnival is a festival or festive season that happens all over world in the month of Febuary right before Lent. During the celebration, there is a parade in which people dress up in costume mascarade style. Although Brazil might be the most famous, Carnival is also held all over the world. These places include Italy in which its called Carnevale of Venice and Carnevale of Viareggio; the Rhineland Carnivals take place in Dusseldorf, Cologne and Mainz, Gernamy. In South America you can find the Carnaval and the Llamadas in Montevideo, Uruguay; as well as Barranquilla, Colombia. In the United States our equilvalent to Carnival would be Mardi Gras, that takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana.

My team was fortunate enough to participate in the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It is said to be the second most popular carnival behind Brazil.
The Mask & Dracula

It is not clear when the first Carnival of Santa Cruz was held, people assume that it can be dated all the way back to the islands first settlers. In Tenerife, it is divided up into two parts. One is the Official Carnival with includes hundreds of different groups participation with music and stuff. The other is Carnival in the Street in which people basically dress up and party all night long. Carnival is kicked off by a parade and numerous other official events. One in which includes the crowning of a Queen at the Gala of the Queen. Each year in Santa Cruz there is a theme of the Carnival. This year's was "Tenerife, the story of carnival", but I think I would have loved last years, "The Anti- Christ Carnival" I bet there were some awesome costumes for that. To an outsider, one might think it is just a big party where people get drunk in the street. But to the locals it is a very important tradition as it does coincide with Lent.


It was quite the experience and I am really happy I got a chance to participate. My team had some pretty cool costumes as well. But the best was probably Maria's. She dressed up as Danny Zuko from Grease. Along with her was Colo, who dressed up as his Sandy Olsson. Even our coaches joined the fun. I cannot describe their costumes. All I know is that their makeup was great. Its weird going "out" with you coaches, btu it was all in fun. We are all adults. It was also brought to my attention that men like to dress as woman a lot at these type of events. I dont know why, but I think its kind of funny. A man just wants to know what it feels like to be a woman I guess, and here is his excuse to do so.