I ended up taking the train, with Margarita, my host mother, and her friend Conchi. It was nice to see the towns between Sevilla and Cadiz, but once we got closer and closer to Cadiz, more and more people came on with flamboyant costumes.
I had a few underestimations about the carnaval. People said that there were going to be a lot of people in Cadiz, but being from Vermont, the biggest crowd I've ever been in was at the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes concert at Shelburne Museum. There were moments when I was standing in an alleyway with no free space and was being moved by people pushing in the crowd! Also, I thought that wearing a costume was an option. Some people just put on a wig or funny hat, but I did look very boring next to the tribe of Native American women!
So when we got off the train, we were a little flustered because we didn't have a map, so we took a picture of the map of Cadiz that showed where all of the rest stops were. We took a random left and saw swarms of people! Originally, I thought the performances were at specific locations, but everywhere we went, there was music! In front of the city hall, we watched our first group, which was a group of men dressed up as doctors. They sang about the Royal Hospital, but I wasn't able to understand everything, but it was still really funny with all of their expressions. All of the coros at Carnival wear ridiculous outfits, most of the time they are accompanied by music. The biggest carnival in Spain is in Cadiz, and the city prepares all year for it. The carnival in Cadiz starts the Thursday before Shrove Day, and ends the following Saturday. The first weekend is for the adult choruses, while the following for the infantils (child prodigies! Overrated!) A little before carnival starts there is a competition between all of the coros, and the final is the first Friday of carnaval. I actually heard some of it on the local radio station, and absolutely loved it when they sang songs from Les Miserables in Spanish. It's so hard to describe what the choruses sound like, but they're almost like a capella groups accompanied by guitars with a huge Spanish flare. Here's the link to a video of one of the finalists of this years competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M8swD-IdzQ
Culturally, carnaval is something that I have never experienced! Being cold, Puritan influenced New England, the mostly lively shing-dig I've ever been to was Burlington Marathon after party. Lets just state the major differences! People were walking around drinking liter bottles of Cruzcampo beer, in the early afternoon! I'm pretty sure they weren't sharing! (People we getting very drunk at 4 in the afternoon, so I would not want to stick around after dark.) There were vendors everywhere selling seafood, hot sandwiches, sweets, kazoos, etc. Although there were a lot of food vendors, the majority of the people brought their own lunches, big sandwiches wrapped in aluminum foil. My mother packed us a lunch, and I felt terrible because I ate two whole sandwiches by myself! Whatever, I go to the gym!
At the end we got to see a little bit of the parade at the end of the day, which was cool because there was actually a lot of South American dance troops. When I think of Spain, I don't think of Chinese people owning stores (yes stores, not restaurants) or immigrants from Bolivia and Paraguay, but my host sister, Claudia, told me a saying that (I can't remember it in Spanish) that People love all the "colors" in Spain. I felt like carnaval was a very colorful event, that painted a memory that I will keep forever!
Here are some pictures of the a few of los coros.
I had a few underestimations about the carnaval. People said that there were going to be a lot of people in Cadiz, but being from Vermont, the biggest crowd I've ever been in was at the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes concert at Shelburne Museum. There were moments when I was standing in an alleyway with no free space and was being moved by people pushing in the crowd! Also, I thought that wearing a costume was an option. Some people just put on a wig or funny hat, but I did look very boring next to the tribe of Native American women!
So when we got off the train, we were a little flustered because we didn't have a map, so we took a picture of the map of Cadiz that showed where all of the rest stops were. We took a random left and saw swarms of people! Originally, I thought the performances were at specific locations, but everywhere we went, there was music! In front of the city hall, we watched our first group, which was a group of men dressed up as doctors. They sang about the Royal Hospital, but I wasn't able to understand everything, but it was still really funny with all of their expressions. All of the coros at Carnival wear ridiculous outfits, most of the time they are accompanied by music. The biggest carnival in Spain is in Cadiz, and the city prepares all year for it. The carnival in Cadiz starts the Thursday before Shrove Day, and ends the following Saturday. The first weekend is for the adult choruses, while the following for the infantils (child prodigies! Overrated!) A little before carnival starts there is a competition between all of the coros, and the final is the first Friday of carnaval. I actually heard some of it on the local radio station, and absolutely loved it when they sang songs from Les Miserables in Spanish. It's so hard to describe what the choruses sound like, but they're almost like a capella groups accompanied by guitars with a huge Spanish flare. Here's the link to a video of one of the finalists of this years competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M8swD-IdzQ
Culturally, carnaval is something that I have never experienced! Being cold, Puritan influenced New England, the mostly lively shing-dig I've ever been to was Burlington Marathon after party. Lets just state the major differences! People were walking around drinking liter bottles of Cruzcampo beer, in the early afternoon! I'm pretty sure they weren't sharing! (People we getting very drunk at 4 in the afternoon, so I would not want to stick around after dark.) There were vendors everywhere selling seafood, hot sandwiches, sweets, kazoos, etc. Although there were a lot of food vendors, the majority of the people brought their own lunches, big sandwiches wrapped in aluminum foil. My mother packed us a lunch, and I felt terrible because I ate two whole sandwiches by myself! Whatever, I go to the gym!
At the end we got to see a little bit of the parade at the end of the day, which was cool because there was actually a lot of South American dance troops. When I think of Spain, I don't think of Chinese people owning stores (yes stores, not restaurants) or immigrants from Bolivia and Paraguay, but my host sister, Claudia, told me a saying that (I can't remember it in Spanish) that People love all the "colors" in Spain. I felt like carnaval was a very colorful event, that painted a memory that I will keep forever!
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