Carnival

Origin and history

Carnival, originally a Spring pagan rite later incorporated by the Church as a “farewell to the flesh” party occurring each year before the Lenten (the period of Lent: forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer preceding Easter), is a final opportunity to explore sensual, worldly delights before a season of religious restraint and penitence.

The tradition of a pre-Lenten carnival originated in second century Rome; indeed, the very word "carnival" is derived from the Latin words for "flesh" (carne) and "farewell" (vale). In Roman tradition, the revellers delivered themselves up to voluntary madness; they would don masks, adorn themselves in the manner of spectres and spirits, and give themselves to Bacchus and Venus--gods of wine and love--who were symbols of all things diurnal and sensual.

The carnival in Colombia

Such as Rio, Venice and New Orleans, Barranquilla, Colombia has a colourful carnival; it is, together with the Holy Week and Easter, one of the main popular festivities in the country. This party is not celebrated nationwide but all Colombians know about it and can enjoy it through the images transmitted by the local TV channel, TeleCaribe. The Barranquilla carnival has street parades, costumes, beauty pageants and bank holidays.

As in almost every other part of the world, El Carnaval depends on the liturgical calendar, usually taking place on the four days before Ash Wednesday sometime between February and March. On the Caribbean Region of Colombia, the capital of Atlántico department, Barranquilla, hosts year after year, thousands of people from different parts of the country and from around the world to embrace days of music, drinking, dance and laugh listening to the letanías chanted by locals who make fun of the most important prior year social, economical or political happenings in the country and worldwide. It is for that reason than you could see this year the USA President, Mr. Obama; the Colombian Senator Mrs. Piedad Córdoba and several personalities who were important in 2008 and are in the news these days. The carnival is also a festivity of cumbias, porros, mapalés, gaitas, chandés, puyas, fandangos and fantastic merecumbés. It is a party of sones and danzones. A celebration which gathers the traditions based on our people’s creativity expressed by the dance, music, handicrafts, costumes and different manners of enjoying the rumba.

The traditional danza del Garabato or the rhythm Pajarito, the danza del Torito, the Barranquilla’s Congo Grande, the Marimondas del Barrio Abajo, the danza de los Micos, the Diablos Arlequines de Sabanalarga, the Farotas de Talaigua Nuevo, the Negras Bollongas, the Festín del Gallinazo, and the popular Cumbia Soledeña, are, between others, expressions of the cultural diversity that the carnival joins in a great current of life which goes up from Barranquilla to all nation, with the target of cover it of friendship, happiness and tolerance.

ENSMA’s carnival

Many villages and towns all around the Caribbean Region of Colombia celebrate the carnival in a less flamboyant and internationalized way, but according to ancient traditions in which the presence of nature and animal elements is significant.

In Santa Marta we celebrate a carnival not as colourful and ostentatious as Barranquilla’s one, but especially decorated by beautiful pageants, masks, dances and autochthon music.

In our school we celebrated the carnival as a way to express happiness for being Samarios and Samarias.

We started the carnival time with the reading of El Bando, on the 13 of February.

On the 20 of February we celebrated the carnival party. On that day, all grades, from Pre-school to High School, enjoyed the carnival during the morning.

Such as every year, once we were organized, we made a parade. We went out to pass by the streets around the school, plenty of energy, dancing and singing with our costumes and masks.