Carnival. A word and an event that resonate around the world. For the British, who have turned away from religiosity and its celebrations in ever-increasing degree since the Reformation, there is a collective forgetfulness to appreciate Shrove Tuesday as its remnant of Carnival. Elsewhere, where religiosity, or at least its social convention, has retained a hold, Carnival remains the party atmosphere of pre-Lent, a riot of gluttony before the fast. And as such it is total hokum of consequent non-observed abstinence. Carnival, subdued under Franco, has passed into current-day tradition as no more than another fiesta, another excuse for street celebrations and DJs in the squares. Let the good times roll. The more parties the merrier. But Carnival is now just one of the rest. When recently I spoke about time in winter being marked by the intervals between fiestas, I forgot about Carnival. How could I have? Easy. It is just another, and it comes at the fag-end of the winter fiesta season. We are all fiesta-ed out, but there’s one more to give an excuse to some parade dressing-up, some dancing giants and some free nosebag. I am not against Carnival, I am not against the celebrations, but I am against fiesta-fatigue and the ennui of ritualism and familiarity that surrounds much of the so-called spectacular.
Holidays, fiestas, call them as you like, what they need, what they deserve is their place, their special place. Caught in an endless chain of events, often sharing similar styles, they lose their specialness and their point. Only another thrash and an opportunity to wear some daft clothes.
In Britain, because the British have forgotten their traditions, holidays and days-off have to be invented. There is something callously opportunist about the idea of a bank holiday as a way of supporting British troops. Callously opportunist and ridiculous. The B&Q car parks packed, while a few worthies watch a march past. It is an absurdity. At least with Carnival there is some sense to it.
Mallorcan Carnival is not on a Brazilian scale; the scale is more Brazil nut than the nuttiness of Rio. It is groups of children wandering along streets, adults with “wacky” costumes and the inevitable scratch and turntable of an earnest technoist in the mix at the Carnival street rave. It could be worse though. In Germany they have got Carnival off to an art of self-ridicule and have the lunatic tie-cutting terror – of Bavaria’s “Fasching” at any rate. Males frantically removing their neck furniture in fear of a scissors-wielding fraulein.
Which is not to say that Carnival does not put on its best party frock and go to the ball in other parts of Spain. And here one has the potential alternative take on Mallorca Carnival; it is too spectacle-lite. Mallorca is missing a trick, but the message may be getting through. The keeper of the Palma Sant Sebastia keys has admitted that this celebration could be improved and marketed internationally. With so many fiestas, the danger is that individually they lose their significance, but not if they were perceived and promoted as a whole. Mallorca could be 24 hour party people, 365 day a year party people (with one more day added this year). “Mallorca, where the party never stops.” Carnival would recapture its specialness as one of the peaks of this endless bout of hedonism attracting the foreign throngs. They could even learn a lesson from the one street party that the British do which is any good – Notting Hill.
QUIZ
Yesterday – “Wish You Were Here”, Pink Floyd. Today’s title – well, it’s only really started, but whatever. Who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for January 2008
Alcúdia like Blackpool – 24 January 2008
Alcúdia Pins – 5 January 2008
All-inclusives – 5 January 2008
Awards 2007 – 3 January 2008
Baby buggies – 29 January 2008
Balearic Government – 9 January 2008
Bars – 3 January 2008, 25 January 2008, 31 January 2008
Beaches – 28 January 2008
Bottled water – 6 January 2008
Britain – 4 January 2008
British Consul – 9 January 2008, 11 January 2008
Brochures – 5 January 2008
Building conversion – 26 January 2008
Café del Món – 31 January 2008
Cafés – 25 January 2008, 31 January 2008
Cars for sale – 19 January 2008
Catalan – 30 January 2008
Catholic Church – 15 January 2008
Characters, local – 16 January 2008
Clínica Juaneda – 8 January 2008
Credit squeeze – 10 January 2008
Cycling – 12 January 2008, 27 January 2008
Devils – 14 January 2008
Direct Holidays – 5 January 2008
Do-it-yourself holidays – 22 January 2008
Education – 30 January 2008
Eroski Syp – 16 January 2008
Estate agents – 18 January 2008
Expatriates – 20 January 2008
Fiestas – 14 January 2008
Fishing – 17 January 2008
Football – 18 January 2008
General election – 15 January 2008, 20 January 2008
Goats – 17 January 2008
Holiday prices – 5 January 2008
Hospital General de Muro – 8 January 2008
Hotels – 5 January 2008
Hunting – 17 January 2008
La Victoria – 17 January 2008
Language – 30 January 2008
Mallorquín – 30 January 2008
Mile, The – 24 January 2008
Mosquitoes – 21 January 2008
Moths – 7 January 2008
National anthems – 13 January 2008, 16 January 2008
Nit Bruixa – 14 January 2008
Patio heaters – 31 January 2008
Pine trees – 7 January 2008
Political parties – 15 January 2008, 30 January 2008
Playa de Muro – 5 January 2008, 6 January 2008
Processionary caterpillar – 7 January 2008
Property market – 18 January 2008
Rajoy, Mariano – 15 January 2008
Restaurant Boy – 27 January 2008
Restaurants – 3 January 2008, 27 January 2008
Sa Pobla – 14 January 2008
Sand – 28 January 2008
Sant Antoni – 14 January 2008
Sant Sebastia – 14 January 2008, 21 January 2008
Sewage – 26 January 2008
Share prices – 10 January 2008
Spanish economy – 15 January 2008
Supply and demand – 25 January 2008
Terrorism – 15 January 2008
Tour operators – 5 January 2008, 10 January 2008, 22 January 2008
Tourism economics – 10 January 2008
Tourism marketing – 23 January 2008
Tourism statistics – 5 January 2008
Voting rights – 20 January 2008
Water quality – 6 January 2008, 26 January 2008
Weather – 7 January 2008
Winter tourism – 9 January 2008, 11 January 2008
Holidays, fiestas, call them as you like, what they need, what they deserve is their place, their special place. Caught in an endless chain of events, often sharing similar styles, they lose their specialness and their point. Only another thrash and an opportunity to wear some daft clothes.
In Britain, because the British have forgotten their traditions, holidays and days-off have to be invented. There is something callously opportunist about the idea of a bank holiday as a way of supporting British troops. Callously opportunist and ridiculous. The B&Q car parks packed, while a few worthies watch a march past. It is an absurdity. At least with Carnival there is some sense to it.
Mallorcan Carnival is not on a Brazilian scale; the scale is more Brazil nut than the nuttiness of Rio. It is groups of children wandering along streets, adults with “wacky” costumes and the inevitable scratch and turntable of an earnest technoist in the mix at the Carnival street rave. It could be worse though. In Germany they have got Carnival off to an art of self-ridicule and have the lunatic tie-cutting terror – of Bavaria’s “Fasching” at any rate. Males frantically removing their neck furniture in fear of a scissors-wielding fraulein.
Which is not to say that Carnival does not put on its best party frock and go to the ball in other parts of Spain. And here one has the potential alternative take on Mallorca Carnival; it is too spectacle-lite. Mallorca is missing a trick, but the message may be getting through. The keeper of the Palma Sant Sebastia keys has admitted that this celebration could be improved and marketed internationally. With so many fiestas, the danger is that individually they lose their significance, but not if they were perceived and promoted as a whole. Mallorca could be 24 hour party people, 365 day a year party people (with one more day added this year). “Mallorca, where the party never stops.” Carnival would recapture its specialness as one of the peaks of this endless bout of hedonism attracting the foreign throngs. They could even learn a lesson from the one street party that the British do which is any good – Notting Hill.
QUIZ
Yesterday – “Wish You Were Here”, Pink Floyd. Today’s title – well, it’s only really started, but whatever. Who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for January 2008
Alcúdia like Blackpool – 24 January 2008
Alcúdia Pins – 5 January 2008
All-inclusives – 5 January 2008
Awards 2007 – 3 January 2008
Baby buggies – 29 January 2008
Balearic Government – 9 January 2008
Bars – 3 January 2008, 25 January 2008, 31 January 2008
Beaches – 28 January 2008
Bottled water – 6 January 2008
Britain – 4 January 2008
British Consul – 9 January 2008, 11 January 2008
Brochures – 5 January 2008
Building conversion – 26 January 2008
Café del Món – 31 January 2008
Cafés – 25 January 2008, 31 January 2008
Cars for sale – 19 January 2008
Catalan – 30 January 2008
Catholic Church – 15 January 2008
Characters, local – 16 January 2008
Clínica Juaneda – 8 January 2008
Credit squeeze – 10 January 2008
Cycling – 12 January 2008, 27 January 2008
Devils – 14 January 2008
Direct Holidays – 5 January 2008
Do-it-yourself holidays – 22 January 2008
Education – 30 January 2008
Eroski Syp – 16 January 2008
Estate agents – 18 January 2008
Expatriates – 20 January 2008
Fiestas – 14 January 2008
Fishing – 17 January 2008
Football – 18 January 2008
General election – 15 January 2008, 20 January 2008
Goats – 17 January 2008
Holiday prices – 5 January 2008
Hospital General de Muro – 8 January 2008
Hotels – 5 January 2008
Hunting – 17 January 2008
La Victoria – 17 January 2008
Language – 30 January 2008
Mallorquín – 30 January 2008
Mile, The – 24 January 2008
Mosquitoes – 21 January 2008
Moths – 7 January 2008
National anthems – 13 January 2008, 16 January 2008
Nit Bruixa – 14 January 2008
Patio heaters – 31 January 2008
Pine trees – 7 January 2008
Political parties – 15 January 2008, 30 January 2008
Playa de Muro – 5 January 2008, 6 January 2008
Processionary caterpillar – 7 January 2008
Property market – 18 January 2008
Rajoy, Mariano – 15 January 2008
Restaurant Boy – 27 January 2008
Restaurants – 3 January 2008, 27 January 2008
Sa Pobla – 14 January 2008
Sand – 28 January 2008
Sant Antoni – 14 January 2008
Sant Sebastia – 14 January 2008, 21 January 2008
Sewage – 26 January 2008
Share prices – 10 January 2008
Spanish economy – 15 January 2008
Supply and demand – 25 January 2008
Terrorism – 15 January 2008
Tour operators – 5 January 2008, 10 January 2008, 22 January 2008
Tourism economics – 10 January 2008
Tourism marketing – 23 January 2008
Tourism statistics – 5 January 2008
Voting rights – 20 January 2008
Water quality – 6 January 2008, 26 January 2008
Weather – 7 January 2008
Winter tourism – 9 January 2008, 11 January 2008
Zapatero, Jose Luis Rodriguez – 15 January 2008
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