Costumes in Spain are like business casual garb in the U.S. In the last two weeks I have been both a carrot top and a vampire, I have feasted as a feathered masquerader and painted myself Irish; a makeshift leprechaun. For 3 weeks Spaniards celebrate carnival and use it as an excuse to regress 20 years and color themselves children. Men and women from 4-84 paraded the cities streets dressed as anything, from smurfs to pirates, boxers and Barbie dolls. Their rhythm came from music gasping through scratchy speakers in an overworked pickup truck. I often saw it pushed from the pavement as Alcala’s crowds swelled, fully dominating its cobble stoned streets. The Carnival crazies danced for days so I, in turn, bought costumes to compliment their passion for the holiday.
Carnival in Alcala and many parts of Europe is not unlike Valencia’s Las Fallas. There, the entire city also takes to the streets as their grounds for expression. In Valencia I encountered the most meticulous, expensive and destructive hobby; what essentially distinguishes Valencia’s festival as Las Fallas. All year participants construct massive paper mashie structures, sculpted in detail to the panorama of their choice. Sculptures ranged from twisted and trippy to supernatural, then humorous all on one block. Las fallas literally means the fires so on the final weekend of the festival, after the winner has been chosen, Valencia’s fanatics torch each painted piece and celebrate as it simmers to ash. The entire town encourages the mayhem that is Valencia. Bars move their business to the streets and pastry vendors operate their deep fryers on overdrive. Like Carnival it is an experience to magical to miss. I am so glad I get to be apart of this culture!
Paige I love reading your blog! It is so refreshing to read about the culture in which you are surrounded. Your writing style is unique in that you are narrating a story but it also has elements of emotion. I find your use of tone and sentence length to be effective in conveying your overall mood. Each post is creative and different which makes it enjoyable for the audience. Great job!
ReplyDeletePaige, the way you described Carnival made me picture a 3-week Halloween type event that nobody should miss! Themed parties have always been a college favorite so having the opportunity to dress up on many different nights sounds like so much fun. That’s such a great opportunity that you were able to get involved in the culture and celebrate along side people who do this year after year. The comparison of the Carnival in Alcala to Valencia’s Las Fallas and then the explanation of what goes on in Valencia really gave me an idea of what goes into the festivals which sound amazing. If you have pictures of the crowds in costumes you should post them!
ReplyDeleteHahah I loved this post, picturing you dressed up like a carrot top actually made me laugh out loud. And I agree with Lauren about the Halloween feeling aspect! I only wish I could have been there to celebrate with you guys! We were actually able to attend a mardi gras celebration in Sydney one weekend but even that does not seem fair in comparison to the events of carnival! I am glad that you had a good time : )
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed reading your blog. Each post is so descriptive making it really easy for me to picture the experiences that you are having. I personally have been having some trouble with trying to describe my trips in an exciting way so I really appreciate that you are able to do so, so well. Hope your finals go well! Cannot wait to hear all about your stories and trips when we get back to Loyola : )