Carnival in the Canaries 2014

Santa Cruz 2014 poster

Soon it will be carnival time in the Canary Islands once again and the carnival in Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz is said to be second only to that of Rio. Gorgeous participants, stunning costumes, marching bands, samba schools, music and happy mayhem. Though tied to the Easter celebrations elsewhere there is nothing at all religious about this month-long party here. The dates don't necessarily coincide with carnivals in other parts of the world and different towns party on different dates over the coming month and well into March 2014.

The main events of the month-long carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife are as follows:

Wednesday Feb.26th,2014:  Election of the Carnaval Queen. This event is a huge evening gala.

Friday Feb. 28th:  Once it has it's Queen, Santa Cruz Carnaval takes to the streets on the Friday evening, with the Cabalgata Anunciadora, followed by a huge fireworks display and dancing to major bands after that.

Tuesday March 4th, 2014:   The Main Parade in Santa Cruz (the Avenida de Anaga and Marítima), from around 4pm ending in another fantastic fireworks display at around 9pm.

Wednesday March 5th:  ''Burial of the Sardine'' to ''end'' the carnival. Men dress up as "Widows" to mourn the poor old sardine and generally party the night away after another great fireworks show.

N.B.: 

Poster contest entry
for VGR's carnival

These are just a few main events and even after the carnival has ''ended'' there's more to come. All in all there are hundreds of events, dances, parades, concerts, as well as dozens of stages and venues, plus several more large fireworks displays. All together it is lasting from early February to March 9th 2014 after which everyone involved definitely will need a good rest.

Full programme in Spanish: www.carnavaltenerife.es


Here in Valle Gran Rey the whole affair is a lot smaller in scale and lasts 4 days from the 5th to the 8th of March 2014 with the main events staged in the harbour. The theme for this year's parade is 'Terror'. Help !