Carnaval

Judy.  Ash Wednesday, the day that starts Lent on the Christian calendar, is this week, and around the world, countries celebrate the last few days before Lent. In Rio de Janerio, it's Carnaval. In New Orleans and other cities in Louisiana and Mississippi, it's Mardi Gras.

Since we started traveling, we've been to three Carnivales in Hispanic cities: in Cádiz, Spain, in 2018; in Málaga, Spain, in 2022; and this year, in Oaxaca, Mexico. I was delighted to find each one vastly different from the other.

In Cádiz, Carnaval is celebrated with a huge song festival. Groups from all over the country come to dress in costume and sing crazy songs (many political, that few people understand), sometimes in hopes of winning a grand prize. Families also dress up, especially the kids. The streets are so narrow and crowds so large that sometimes we couldn't even get to our apartment.

Government buildings get involved, too.

You don't have to sing to dress up.

This band was hoping for the grand prize.

A beer--or two--makes the singing more fun.

Snow White just needed to look adorable.

In 2022, as the world was opening up after the Covid Pandemic, we spent Carnaval in Málaga. This was a much fancier celebration, more reminiscent of the feathers of Mardi Gras, but on a much smaller scale. People often carried their own "floats". Everyone was beautiful, and happy, and people in the parades threw confetti at all of us. At the end of the evening, a Drag show was held with the city's most famous queens. I couldn't get close enough for a photo of that.

The stage is set.

Kids dress up, and pull their own floats.

Guys can get really fancy, too.

I was in awe of this lovely lady pulling herself the length of the route.

Participants throw confetti and candy to the crowd.

This year, we're in Oaxaca, where there's no doubt that indigenous legends have their say as well. There are bands, beautiful women, and devils, and participants in the parade often grab bystanders to dance or to smear them with black makeup. The parade winds through the streets from Templo Santo Domingo to the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, the city's patron saint. At the plaza there, all the bands and participants crowd in with total cacophony and fun. Liquor flows freely, and everyone crowds around to watch. 

The signs were out for days.

Masks and blackface and whips

Loved this lone dancer

Abuela gave the "stink eye" to the crowd.

Devils were out in force.

Beauty and the Beast

It wouldn't be Oaxaca without the dancing ladies

This little boy had quite a different costume than the kids in the other cities.