The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife () is held each February–March –depending on the year– in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the largest island of the Canary Islands, Spain and attracts people from all over the world.
It is considered the second most important, most popular and internationally known carnival, after the one held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Partially for this reason, the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is twinned with the city of Rio de Janeiro.
In 1981, it was declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest by the Secretary of State for Tourism. It aspires to become an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.http://www.santacruzmas.com/SantaCruzMas09.asp?IdMenu=10&IdSeccion=41&IdSubseccion=238 In 1987, singer Celia Cruz went to the Carnival Chicharrero with Billo's Caracas Boys; attended by 250,000 people, the concert was registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest gathering of people in an outdoor plaza to attend a concert. In 2019 for its part, more than 400,000 people danced to the rhythm of Juan Luis Guerra during the Carnival of the day thus surpassing the record reached in 1987 with Celia Cruz. Although, however, due to the unexpected mass response there was no notary officializing this figure for the Guinness Book.Santa Cruz bate el récord de Celia Cruz
The festivities on the streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife start on the Friday before Carnival with an opening parade, which reaches its height during the night when thousands of people in fancy dresses dance until the early hours of the next day. The party continues night after night until Ash Wednesday. That day, people of Santa Cruz de Tenerife celebrate the "entierro de la sardina" (burial of the sardine), and with this event the carnival is officially over. However, the party starts up again the following weekend, known as the weekend of the piñata.
The festival has two parts: the official Carnival, and the Carnival on the street. The official carnival has more than a hundred groups, including murgas, comparsas, rondallas and other musical groups. The street carnival is more loosely organized, and comprises the people celebrating on the streets. Thousands of people come each day to the streets to participate, most of whom wear a disguise in accordance with Carnival tradition.
History
The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been celebrated since the time of the earliest European settlement, and possibly earlier. In 1605 Gaspar Luis Hidalgo alluded to the habit of reversing the sexes in dress. Early written references date from the end of the 18th century, in the writings of visitors. The journal of Lope Antonio de la Guerra Peña in 1778 includes a dance held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where he then talked about comparsas (bands playing conga music). In 1783, the Corregidor reported the use of masks "being banned by royal instructions". In practice the ban was not carried out, and a carnival feature was the mixing of the masked upper class with the common people.
Governmental ban During the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1935), and General Franco (1940–1960), the Carnival was known as "Winter holiday" as a ruse to circumvent the ban that had been enacted against it. Despite the ban, the festival continued to take place in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Cádiz, Spain. In 1954 with Los Bigotudos (today known as Afilarmónica NIFU-NiFá) performed the first murga (musical theater).
Promotional posters Since 1962, a poster for each year of the Carnival has been created. Artists such as John Galarza, Gurrea, Javier Mariscal, Dokoupil, César Manrique, Cuixart, Pedro González, Fierro, Paco Martinez, Mel Ramos, Enrique Gonzalez, Maribel Nazca, Elena Lecuona and many others have contributed to their designs. For the 2009 Carnival, it was proposed that an open competition take place for participants to design the official poster for that year.
Traditional events The main venues for Carnival competitions and the election of the Queen have been the Teatro Guimerá (until 1985) and the Plaza de Toros (1986–1988) Its central circular stage was decorated with a silver crown in 1986–1987 and a golden crown in 1988. Additional venues have included the Plaza de España in 2005, the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife and the Esplanade of Parks in 2008. Since the construction of the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife, additional Carnival venues have varied.
In recent years tickets for several events (especially the Final Murgas Adultas Contest and the Gala of the Queen) have sold out completely (over 20,000 seats) between 15 and 60 minutes after tickets go on sale. The Gala of the Queen, with a stage spectacle that crowns the first lady of the Carnival and groups awarded for their efforts, is broadcast each year by a national network for the entire country and broadcast via satellite to all continents. Networks covering the event include RTVE, Televisión Canaria, Antena 3 Televisión, Canal +, Galavisión and Telecinco.
Capital of Carnival In May 2000, the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife became the Carnival Capital of the World and headquarters of the 20th Convention of the Federation of European Carnival Cities (FECC). The convention, held on the island of Gran Canaria, featured appearances by Carnival performers and concluded with performers from the Carnival of Las Palmas.
Themes
1987 – Rome: This was the first year that the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, was themed. For this, the perimeter of the Plaza de España was surrounded by an Ionic-style paired colonnade, giving the appearance of a circular Roman temple. The portal of the lintel of each pair of columns, was adorned by two Atlantic mackerel (chicharros) crowned with laurels. This was the year the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife entered the Guinness Book of World Records. 1988 – Wild World: The colonnade of the previous year was recycled, painted in salmon and topped with white palm leaves made from fiberglass, giving the appearance of palm trees. Every two or three palms were on platforms which were reproductions of previous carnival Queen costumes in white fiberglass. A model of King Kong stood on a pedestal 1989 – Millennial Egypt: The Plaza de España replaced the Plaza de Toros as the main stage. It was decorated with two large sphinxes and an Egyptian-style palace gate. 1990 – Story World: The scene at the Plaza de España was that of a story in two parts. One story was "happy" (with a smiley-faced house) and the other "dark", with a tree whose branches were shaped like hands in a tribute to the film Poltergeist. 1991 – Space: The tower of the Plaza de España was integrated into the scenery, transforming it into a giant telecommunications antenna dominated by metal, neon and laser lights. 1992 – Cinema: The stage of the Plaza de España evoked a Western movie set. 1993 – Circus: The stage was extended to almost half the surface of the square. This was the first year that Antena 3 Television broadcast the Queen Gala nationally and internationally (on Antena 3 Internacional); previously, it had been broadcast by RTVE, TVE1 and La2 TVE Internacional. 1994 – Atlántida: The stage was highlighted with oceanic colors. The gala was presented by journalist Willy García. The queen that year was Maria Candelaria Rodriguez, who wore "Diva" (by Marcos Marrero) for Casinos de Tenerife. 1995 – The Thousand and One Nights: Scenes from the Arabian story adorned the stage of the Plaza de España, inspired by the film Aladdin. 1996 – Mexico: The main stage of the Carnival moved to the newly opened Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife. The theatrical set evokes a neighborhood in Mexico, and the characters were stereotypical negative portrayals of Mexicans as "drunk, lazy and violent". The Mexican Consul was in attendance, and it was broadcast in America by Galavision and in Spain by Telecinco. The show nearly created a diplomatic conflict; Televisa closed its office in Tenerife, which was owned by Canal 7 del Atlántico (ECO Noticias). Construction errors on the set required help for the queen candidates to cross the stage. Its highlight was a performance by Enrique Iglesias. 1997 – Prehistory: The set was simple: a rocky mountain made of papier-mâché in the center of the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife. 1998 – The Middle Ages: The set of that year was a medieval castle with flags, coats of arms and colored conical roofs. 1999 – Comic World: This marked a return to the Plaza de España, with a set filled with superheroes. Highlights were Captain America (known as "Super Chicha") and a giant bust of Lara Croft.
2000 – Pirates: A pirate galleon was the centerpiece, surrounded by palm trees, islands, beaches and waves. 2001 – Space Odyssey: A spaceship was the main feature at the Plaza de España. 2002 – The Roaring 20s: The scene of the Plaza de España was decorated with motifs reminiscent of the first two decades of the 20th century. The Eiffel Tower was featured on stage, with the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge behind the Eiffel Tower. 2003 – The Far East (China): The center of the Plaza de España was occupied by a Chinese temple in red. A papier-mâché sculpture of the Buddha was withdrawn after protests by the Buddhist community of Tenerife, who objected to a religious figure being used frivolously. The main streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife were decorated red and gold, with Chinese lanterns. 2004 – Celia Cruz: The stage at the Plaza de España was decorated as a Cuban neighborhood, with a neon sign reading "Celia Cruz" in blue. 2005 – Hollywood Musicals: The stage of the Spanish Steps was inspired by Hollywood black-and-white musicals. 2006 – Tribes: The stage was again moved to the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife. Two sets (one primary and one secondary) were planned, joined by a footbridge. The decoration of both was based on graffiti and Web icons. It was originally intended to target "urban tribes" (punks and hippies) but was given a general theme of "tribes", which proved confusing. 2007 – Fashion: Known as the "Bitter Carnival" due to the negative role acquired by the director of that year's Gala Election of the Queen, Rafael Amargo (amargo in Spanish means "bitter") and the show itself. 2008 – Magic: The stage was moved to the parking lot of the Parque Marítimo César Manrique. The decor was inspired by the struggle between good and evil (white magic and black magic), incorporating motifs from The NeverEnding Story, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. 2009 – Horror Films: This was known as "the anti-crisis Carnival". The main stage at the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife was flat, without any carvings or models. The decoration was large-format canvases printed with motifs from an early influence of Ed Wood, Nosferatu. The satanic hymn "Ave Satani" (of the horror movie The Omen) was heard several times at the introduction to the gala. 2010 – Tenerife, Carnival History: At first the theme was "History of Mankind"; after a policy change in the city, it was changed to "Tenerife, story of a carnival". 2011 – Enrique González and Canary murgas: This year honored Don Enrique González, the "father of street musicians", founder of several acts of the carnival. The Murgas final was held for the first time in Heliodoro Rodriguez López Stadium, with an attendance of 20,000.