In recent years, the last day before the schools knock off for the Carnaval holiday has been a huge event for the whole town. All the kids in school get dressed up, as do all the teachers and a hefty percentage of the parents and there has been a colourful (if shambolic) parade round the streets.
If anything hints at the effect of the current recession on the community it is the curtailing of this event on a local level (as well as the abandonment of all school excursions). This year only the infants get to dress up and there is to be no parade. Even so, the costumes the little ones wear are fabulous. Whether home made or store bought they are all wonderful and a far cry from the cobbled together fancy dress cossies of my day.
In days gone by,
When I was five,
And dressed up for celebration,
The trick back then was coloured pen,
and huge imagination.
This year the theme of the Las Palmas Carnaval is Pirates while horror movies are the focus of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnaval (that is a link to the official website for Carnaval 2009, though honestly I wouldn’t waste my time. You’d be better of popping over to Secret Tenerife where writer Pamela Heywood is doing a far better job of providing info about the event than the touruist board. Shame on them, really…
Anyway, it was no surprise to see quite a few scary skeletons and quite a few pirates. There may even have been a scary skeletal pirate though I admit that one did not catch my eye.
As always, Spiderman was hugely popular and there were more Disney princesses than you could shake a broomstick at. Minnie Mouse was popular this year while a brilliant Ninja costume was a new one on me and on Sami who found it most annoying that he couldn’t tell if the Ninja was really his friend, Noel.
is that not the handsomest boy.. he looks so grown up..
Caroline