The Octopus's Funeral, Los Cancajos

The octopus's funeral procession

Most places in Spain end Carnival with a mock funeral for a sardine. Los Cancajos decided to have a few carnival events this year, ending in an Octopus's funeral (just for a change).

Close up of the octopus

But the weather was terrible, and they postponed it for two weeks. And when the new date came around, there weather was terrible again, and they had to postpone it again!

The percussion band

Third time lucky - the funeral went ahead last night. A percussion band (a batucada) provided the music.

The Master of Ceremonies

The master of ceremonies, looked rather fine as he led the way, keeping the octopus and band together.
The octopus's cremation, Los Cancajos, Breña Baja, La Palma

The procession went through the village and down to the beach, where they cremated it and let off the fireworks.


Fireworks at the octopus's funeral, Los Cancajos, Breña Baja, La Palma


We left, just as the band was starting up for the public dance. It was great fun, and I'm sure they'll do it again next year.

The band

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I Don't Believe It!

(said in my best Victor Meldrew impersonation.)

We're on orange alert again, because there's yet another storm headed our way.

This one is small and intense and due to hit tonight with wind gusts up to 160 km/h on the peaks and possible heavy rain. The only good bit is that it's zipping along so fast that it should be over by lunchtime Saturday.

The observatory has been evacuated, the Octopus's funeral tonight has been postponed again, along with the hiking club's coast-to-coast walk on Saturday.

I haven't heard anything definite about the Sardine's Funeral on Saturday in Los Sauces. The storm may well have gone by then.

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Weather Forecast

Well the storm's gone, thank goodness, but there's more rain due on Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy Friday, quick!

We've had a lot more bad weather than usual this winter.

On a happier note, there's a children's carnival party at La Polvacera Sports Ground, with dancing, games, art workshops and murgas. Come in fancy dress if you can, at 5 pm.

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The Octopus's Funeral has been postponed

It's raining cats and dogs in Breña Baja, and the Octopus's Funeral in Cancajos has been postponed. The new date hasn't been fixed yet.

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La Palma Carnival

One of my favourite things about carnival is the small kids in costume. I hope you enjoy it too.







Some of the

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A Whole Shoal of Sardines

Carnival is officially over in most places, but if you missed the Sardine's funeral in Santa Cruz and Los Llanos, you still have four chances to pay your last respects.

Puntallana hold their sardine's funeral tonight at 10 pm, and the little village of Los Galguitos in San Andres y Sauces holds theirs tonight too, but I haven't been able to find out when.

Los Sauces hold theirs tomorrow (Saturday) at 9 pm. This is perhaps the most famous sardine's funeral on the island. I went last year and it was wonderful - like being inside a Monty Python sketch.

And I have an unconfirmed report that Barlovento will bury theirs on Friday the 13th. Incidentally, the Spanish aren't a bit superstitious about Friday the 13th. They worry about Tuesday the 13th instead.

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Los Indianos

One minutes our of a whole night's partying.

As usual, the little kids are the cutest.


Sometimes the talc can get a bit much. I wonder why I never thought of this solution?

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Canival programme during the week

Santa Cruz de La Palma
Monday, 23rd February LOS INDIANOS - the main event for most people. At one time many Palmerans left the island in search of a better life in the Caribean. Los Indianos celebrates
those who came home again stinking rich. Basically, almost everyone wears white, usually "Gone with the Wind" style dresses for the women, and suits and Panama hats for the men. Some people carry cardboard suitcases, and everybody throws truly amazing quantities of talc at each other. If you dress up and join the parade, the town hall will provide talc. I believe last year they handed out five tones of the stuff and of course most people bought more. The talc is considerably cheaper at the supermarket then at the carnival stalls, and you probably want at least 500g per person. Lots of photos from two years ago here, and a description of last year's event here.

Give it a miss if you have bad asthma, or you're shaky on your feet - the ground gets very slippy. Otherwise make sure you see at least a bit of it. People come from South America for this!

10 am. Waiting. Dignitares wait outside the town hallto greet old friends, neighbours and family who wen to (south) American in search of fortune. Today they come to stir upthe town with Cuban rhythms.

11:00-12:30 am. Cuban music from Los Viejos in la plaza de la Alameda.

11:30 am - 1 00 pm. Tradicional Cuban Music from Pimienta and Ají in the plaza de España. During the performance, the dignitaries will recieve "la Negra Tomasa", a traditional character who represents the returning Palmerans.

And then there's something called "La Batatita, Las Chancleteras y el Manisero," performed by the students of the Municipal Theatre School.

12:30-2:00 pm. Cuban Music from Son Bohemio in la plaza de la Alameda.

13:00-14:30 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Mayeya in la plaza de España.

14:30 pm. I Festival Pimienta y Ají in la plaza de Santo Domingo with traditional Cuban music from various groups.

14:30-16:00 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Orillas del Son in la plaza de España.

16:00-17:00 pm. Yet more traditional Cuban music from Parranda del Gofio in the Plaza de España.

16:30 pm. Official reception for Los Indianos and the talc battle starts.

17:00 pm. The main procession of Los Indianos from Avenida de Los Indianos (the main road leading south out of town) to the plaza de la Alameda.

17:00-18:30 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Son Bohemio in the plaza de la Alameda.

17:30-19:00 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the groups ONG El Cardero Punto Com y Punto on the carnival stage.

18:30-20:00 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Cuarto Son in the plaza de la Alameda.

19:00-20:30 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Mayeya on the carnival stage.

20:00-21:30 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Changó in the plaza de la Alameda.

21:30-23:00 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Orillas del Son in the plaza de la Alameda.

23:00-00:30 pm. Tradicional Cuban from the group Changó in the plaza de la Alameda.

24:00 pm. Public dance with music performed by Salsaludando, Arena Caliente, Geniales and Rica Band on the carnival stage.

00:30-02:00 am. Tradicional Cuban from the group Cuarto Son in the plaza de la Alameda.

Martes, 24 de febrero

17:00 pm. Dance in fancy dress at the Day Centre for Pensioners

19:00 pm. Carnival Festival, with a performances by the La Longuera, Dance School, Ventacayce Cultural Centre, La Palma Dance School, La Encarnación childen's group, Chango Batuka Workshop Calcinas Dance Group and Devorah Velásquez León, at the carnival stage.

Viernes, 27 de febrero

21:00 pm. THE SARDINE'S FUNERAL This is the other crazy night, although the funeral in Santa Cruz seems to be less popular each year, whereas the one in Los Sauces gets more popular (that one's on March 9th this year). Yes, it's a funeral procession for a huge papiere mache sardine, complete with fake priests and moUrners howling with fake grief. It's like being inside a Monty Python sketch. (There's a longer description with photos here)

The funeral procession for Lady Sardine leaves the Plaza de la Alameda at 9p,and heads for the carnival stage. On arrival, the cremation and fireworks (NB the locals stand well back for a good reason!) After that there will be a public dance with music from Salsaludando and Los Geniales at the carnival stage.

Los Llanos de Aridane

MONDAY, February 23
11 a.m. CHILDREN'S WORKSHOP
Plaza de España

4.30 p.m. Parade and children's mask contest
Carnival Scene

10 p.m. Public Dance
with the musical group Libertad and Bolero at the Carnival Stage

TUESDAY, February 24
5 p.m. CARNIVAL COSO
with a carnival groups parades: murgas, comparsas, batucadas, carrozas, etc.
From “La Vera de Argual” to Plaza de España.

WEDNESDAY, Feburary 25
8 p.m. Murgas in La Plaza de España

THURSDAY, February 26
8 p.m. Murgas in La Plaza de España

FRIDAY, February 27
9:30 p.m. The Sardine's Funeral (See the description for Sana Cruz, or a longer description with photos here)

The Burial starts at 1:00 p.m. in El Camino Los Lomos – Los Pedregales, from where the funeral procession leaves at 7:00 p.m. towards La Calle Ramón Pol.
Once the funeral procession arrives, the Sardine will e cremated.

10:00 p.m. VERBENA
With Ricaband and Grupo Libertad orchestras at the Carnival Stage

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Los Llanos Carnival Program for the weekend

FRIDAY, February 20
Festival of Comparsas (Comparsas perform musical dance numbers)
> 8 p.m. Carnival Stage

SATURDAY, February 21
Comparsas performance
> 11.30 a.m. Plaza de España

Big Talcum-Powder throwing party (NB, there's a really good talc-throwing party in Santa Cruz on Monday)
Music and Dancing with La Retranca, Libertad and Salsaludando orchestras
> 1 p.m. Carnival stage

More Music and Dancing
with the orchestras: Bolero, Libertad and Ricaband
> 10 p.m. Carnival Scene

SUNDAY, February 22
THIRD AGE (pensioners') FESTIVAL
With the performance of carnival groups. Then Verbena with Silvia Reyes Group
> 5 p.m. Carnival Stage. Free entrance

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Santa Cruz Carnival Programme for the weekend

Spain celebrates Carnival in the week before the season of Lent. I always say people are making sure they have something really juicy to repent, but these days most people just regard it as a darn good excuse for a party.

The funfair's already here, and the main programme starts on Friday.

Friday, 20th February

6 pm. Opening Parade
Children from the schools and nurseries will parade from the Plaza de la Alameda (the concrete ship) to the Carnival stage (the sea-front car park.) Each class has a different costume, and a lot of them will be seriously cute. The parade includes several bands and drumming groups (batucadas).

8 pm. Music (probably salsa) and dancing at the main carnival stage.

Saturday 21st February

11 am to 1pm Cuban Music
In the Plaza de la Alameda.

6 pm The Ambassador's Parade

Everyone welcome. Come dressed as the ambassadors for whichever country you fancy. (See photos of the 2006 parade here) or just watch. The parade will run from near the port to the concrete ship, accompanied by bands. On arrival at the Plaza Alameda, there will be Cuban music.

9 pm - 11pm Music from the 60s and 70s
In the Plaza de la Alameda.

9pm Concert by la Banda de Oxford.
In the Plaza España. (That's the triangular "square" near the main road up the hill.)

11pm Verbena Popular (music and dancing)
Music by the live bands Arena Caliente and Salsaludando at the main carnival stage.

Sunday 22nd February

12 noon. Performances by the group Renacer in various places along the Calle Real.

6 pm. Drumming festival (Batucada), with drumming bands from all over the island performing in the main streets.

8:30 pm. Festival «Young Solists» at the carnival stage.

10 pm Public dance with music by the group Geniales at the carnival stage.

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Carnival Murgas

Los Zeta Zetas from Tenerife Photo: Murgascanarias.es

What are murgas when they're at home?

Well, they're not murgas. They have to go out to do that. And they usually go out during Carnival.

A murga is a large, costumed choir singing a medley of popular tunes with their own lyrics. The costumes can be quite elaborate, and run from clowns, demons, big, hairy blokes dressed as schoolgirls, Arabian princes, or fairies (usually the big, hairy blokes again.) The lyrics are usually satirical, with politicians as the main targets, but anything's fair game. Think of a cross between Monty Python and "Have I got News for You". Actually, you need very good Spanish to follow the lyrics. After 18 years here, I still only get about half of them.

It's all very professional, and I'm sure they start making the costumes and as soon as Christmas is over, if not earlier.

Some of them sing unaccompanied, but most use kazoos and/ or percussion. The really big spectacles are the official competitions for Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas - the tickets sell out in hours - but we also get some on La Palma during Carnival. In fact Los Llanos will hold a murgas festival on Sunday, February 15 at 5 pm, on the main carnival stage. And the murgas will be going around the suburbs and villages on the following Tuesday and Wednesday. They'll be in Puerto Naos at 8pm.

At the time of writing, the Santa Cruz website is down. Watch this space.

I suspect that the satirical lyrics are at least part of the reason why Franco banned Carnival. he was a miserable so-snd-so anyway, but I'm sure the main reason he banned it was that he didn't want crowds of people on the street with drink in their tums and politics on their minds. You know, "As soon as this pub clo-o-ses, the revolution starts."

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The Funeral at Last!

Last night I went to the delayed Sardine's Funeral in Los Sauces. I finally discovered why people say it's better than the sardine's funeral in Santa Cruz.

They say it because it's true.

The crowd was far bigger than in Santa Cruz, and over half of them wore fancy dress - mostly Halloween theme costumes. This is my hairdresser. I didn't recognise him until he spoke.


First they had a butaca - serious percussion. I took a lot of video, but there wasn't much light and most people were wearing black, so it's not brilliant. I need to learn to edit video.


At the end of the butaca it poured with rain for about ten minutes. Imagine a couple of thousand people all looking for shelter and saying, "Oh no!" all at once. Thankfully it stopped pretty quickly.

Then I wondered about for a bit and had a beer (alcohol free - I was driving).

Then the sardine appeared.


Now in Santa Cruz its a funeral procession, and the mourners are wailing with fake grief, but they're walking in a dignified way.

In Los Sauces, the sardine is being tossed around as though it's on a rough sea. The pall bearers really work up a sweat. I found out the hard way that it gets a fair bit of momentum - the guys at one side can't necesarily stop just because they're going to crash into a photographer. I was glad I only took the compact camera. And the mourners jog and pogo and screech like banshees. It's like Santa Cruz used to be, only better. Monty Python eat your heart out. What's more, there were a couple of smaller sardines brought by groups of kids. The sardine goes around the square twice, and then through the back streets towards the huge new bridge, back along the main street, round the square twice again, and finally onto the bier in the square. The kids' sardines went under the bier.

Of course it ends with the sardine being cremated. And in Los Sauces, the crowd doesn't just watch and cheer. They pogo and boogie and scream again. And there are lots more fireworks.

By then it was one in the morning, so I didn't stop for the public dance. I just ate a sandwich and went home.

Next year I'm going back, and I'm definitely dressing up.

I'll post some video when I've editied it.

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Los Sauces Sardine Postponed

Los Sauces always hold their Sardine's Funeral a week or two after Santa Cruz. It was supposed to happen on Saturday, but we had an orange weather alert. The rain poured and the wind gusted, and it was obvious that nobody was going out if they could help it. In one way it's a good thing - the reservoirs were very low after such a dry winter.

It's finally stopped raining, so today I phoned a couple of bars in Los Sauces, and politely asked for news. Nope, it's not tonight. It should be on Friday 24th. That sounds good to me.

Meanwhile, you can see some video of last year's funeral here.

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The Sardine's Funeral

Tonight was supposed to be the sardine's funeral in Santa Cruz de la Palma.

This is actually a bizarre finale to Carnival, and as such was traditionally held on Ash Wednesday. (They still do so in Tenerife. See http://www.secret-tenerife.com/2008/02/ash-wednesday-burial-of-sardine.html
But some years ago, Santa Cruz de La Palma started to hold their Sardine's Funeral on
the Friday of Carnival week. Presumably they felt it would be more popular if most people didn't have to work in the morning.

But it's been raining most of the day, so it was postponed. Even if they cancel it, the villageof Los Sauces hold their Sardine's funeral next week. Watch this space.

And in the meantime, you can see pictures of a previous funeral here.

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Mojitos

Mojitos are a popular drink during Carnival: sugar, lemon juice, rum and mint. This bar is famous for them all year round, so during Carnival they prepare them in batches. This was one of the smaller batches!

One of the things I like about La Palma, is that people often have a few drinks, but it's rare to see anyone downright drunk. There's an article about this at http://sheilacrosby.com/articles/drunks.php

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Los Indianos

The biggest night of Carnival on the island is Los Indianos parade.

In the 19th century the island was very poor, and many people emigrated to Cuba - the Indies. Some of them came back rich, so that the arrival of a boat from Cuba was quite an event, even though there were more boats to Latin America than to mainland Spain.

So we have a pretend boatload of nouveau-riche arrivals, parading along the main street. The women all dressed in beautiful white plantation dressed and the men in white linen slacks, frilly white shirts, and panama hats. Many carry suitcases with monoploy money poking out.



And people throw vast quantities of talc at each other. By vast, I mean tons. Literally tons. The town hall gave away something like five tons of the stuff to people in the parade, and everyone else brings at least half a kilo of their own. The population of Santa Cruz is about fifteen thousand, and most of them are on the streets. And people come from all over the rest of the island too. In fact, people come from the other Canary Islands, and a few come all the way from South America. Every parking space in town is full, and parked cars line the main road to the airport for at least three kilometers. There are extra buses.

So the streets are heaving with people dressed in white, covered in white powder, blowing whistles and shaking maracas. (The top photo is from before things really got cracking.) All this starts at about five o'clock in the afternoon, and goes on until well after midnight. The morning after is a local holday, but the few times I've had to work, I've seen a few people still celebrating at eight o'clock next morning. Palmerans don't overdo things by halves.

And this year I missed it, due to a heavy cold. But you can see photos from last year at my main website.

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Sopas de miel

This is a traditional recipe for Carnival. A literal translation would be "honey soup" but as you can see, this isn't soup. It can be rather soggy, though.

I believe in some places they use honey, but on La Palma, it's always "miel de cana", which is like molasses, but a little runnier.

Ingredients
Molasses (one small jar)
1 tsp cinnamon
anis 1 desertspoon
peel of one lemon
300g of toasted almonds (chopped)
Stale bread roll (standard Canarian size) cut into slices.

Some people like to use day-old bread, for soft "sopas" Others use week-old bread, so that it's crunchier.

Put the molasses, lemon peel, anis and cinnamon in a pan and simmer. When the flavours have had chance to mix, add about half the almonds. Keep the mixture simmering, while you add the bread slices, one at a time. Make sure they're well soaked with the mixture, and then fish them out onto a serving dish. When you've done all the bread (or run out of molasses mixture) sprinkle the rest of the almonds over, to decorate.

Personally I find them far too sweet, but there you go.

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The Ambassador's Parade

Last night we had a diplomatic procession through Santa Cruz, where the representatives of any nation you care to mention graced us with their presence. And I missed it. (We had a family birthday party at midday, and I still couldn't drive that evening.) So here are some photos from 2006.

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Carnival

Spain celebrates Carnival in the week before the season of Lent. I always say people are making sure they have something really juicey to repent, but these days most people just regard it as a darn good excuse for a party.

It wasn't always that way. Franco banned Carnival. It's always been a time when people could say and do things they wouldn't normally get away with, and perhaps he didn't want people walking aruond with placards asking inconvenient questions. Perhaps, more seriously, he thought that a couple of thousand people in the with several drinks inside them might just start the counter-revolution. You know, like the old song, "As soon as this pub clo--o--ses, the revolution starts." Or perhaps he just felt that people should be working hard instead of having fun.

So there was no Carnival in the street organised by the town hall. Instead every club on the island held a "Winter Fiesta" that week, complete with fancy dress.

Carnival's just getting into serious gear, although the funfair's been here for a week. Last night was the children's parade. The photo shows the kids from the local infant school practising with their Carnival bus. The bus's weight is taken on its wheels, but it's pushed along by the kids, like Fred Flintstone's car.

The school were delighted when I went around with photos.

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