The Carnaval de Ponce (English: Ponce Carnival), officially Carnaval Ponceño, is an annual celebration held in Ponce,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. The celebration lasts one week and it ends on the day before

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Rom ...

. Thus, it is generally held in February and sometimes in March. It is one of the oldest carnivals of the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...

, dating back to 1858. Some authorities, such as the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, believe the Ponce Carnaval can be traced to as far back as 250 years ago. The Carnaval coincides with the Mardi Gras of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, the

Carnival of Venice The Carnival of Venice ( it, Carnevale di Venezia) is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy. The carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday (''Martedì Grasso'' or Mardi Gras), which is the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. The festival is w ...

, and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

's Carnival. The estimated attendance is 100,000. Scenes of the 2011 Carnaval Ponceño were featured in the

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on 7 August 2011.

History

There are no documents stating the

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

origin of the Carnaval, but there are documents mentioning the celebration as early as 1858. The Carnaval de Ponce thus began in 1858 and was started as a

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practic ...

dance by a

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...

by the name of José de la Guardia. The masquerade dance continued as a tradition through the years, but it was not until the 1950s that the municipal government added the parade to the Carnaval. In the early 1960s, the Carnaval began to integrate floats that represented civic and cultural institutions, public and private residential communities, schools, colleges and universities, banking, industry and commerce. The Office of Cultural Development of the Municipality of Ponce explains that “it is believed that the influence of the

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

Carnival extended to

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and that immigrants from Barcelona brought it to Ponce. With the passing of time Poceans have added their own touches with

Afro The afro is a hair type created by natural growth of kinky hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" ''Ebony'', February 1973. ...

Antillean The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

music that fills the celebrations with percussion, rhythm and happiness." In June 1995, Carnaval de Ponce was taken to New York City where, during the

Puerto Rican Day Parade The Puerto Rican Day Parade (also known as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade) takes place annually in the United States along Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The parade is held on the second Sunday in June, in hon ...

, over 200 entertainers, folk artists and musicians from Ponce, in addition to the

Banda Municipal de Ponce The Ponce Municipal Band (Spanish: ''Banda Municipal de Ponce''), also known as ''Centenaria Banda Municipal de Ponce'', is the band of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The band is the oldest continuously-performing band in the Caribbean ...

and the Carnival's Queen and Child Queen, marched down New York's

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

as part of that City's Puerto Rican Day Celebration. During the week leading to the Parade, folk artists from the Carnaval de Ponce, toured the City teaching children to make the traditional Ponce carnival's masks. In 2012, a local news weekly called Carnaval de Ponce "Puerto Rico's National Carnival".

Costumes and masks

One of the traditions of the Carnaval is the appearance of the "

vejigante A ''vejigante'' is a folkloric character in Puerto Rican festival celebrations, mainly seen during Carnival time. Traditional colors of the Vejigantes were green, yellow, and red or red and black. Today, Vejigantes wear brightly colored, ornat ...

s", which is a colorful costume traditionally representing the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

or evil. Vejigantes carry blown cow

bladder The urinary bladder, or simply bladder, is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the kidneys before disposal by urination. In humans the bladder is a distensible organ that sits on the pelvic floor. Urine enters ...

s with which they make sounds and hit carnival attendees throughout the processions. The traditional vejigante masks of the Ponce carnival are made of paper mache and are characterized by the presence of multiple horns. The mask was developed by Ponce artisans in the early part of the 20th century. They are made from newsprint paper mixed with homemade glue and paint. Sophisticated Ponce carnival masks are sought after by mask collectors and masks from Ponce have become a symbol of Puerto Rico at large. The Carnaval ends with the Burial of the Sardine, at which point everyone sings a song in Spanish that translates into: The burial of the Sardine event started in 1967. (The Ball Dance was also started in 1967.The burial of the Sardine event started in 1967. ''The Carnival is dead now'' ''They are burying him;'' ''Throw just a little dirt in'' ''So he can rise again.''

Economics

The municipal government invests close to $100,000 in the Carnival and the event infuses some $500,000 into the city's economy.

List of events

The Carnaval starts on the Wednesday before Ash Wednesday, and the events are as follows. Wednesday: Vejigantes Party
Thursday: King Momo Entrance Parade
Friday: Crowning of the Child Queen
Saturday: Crowning of the Carnival Adult Queen
Sunday: Main Parade
Monday: Carnival's Ball Dance
Tuesday: Burial of the Sardine

Carnaval queens and child queens

In 1959, the Carnaval introduced the crowning of a Carnaval queen. This was followed, in 1973, with the crowning of a Carnaval child queen. The following are the Carnaval queens and child queens.Unless otherwise indicated, this information is taken from ''Carnaval Ponceños 2012: Dedicado a los "Ponceños y Ponceñistas destacados en los Medios de Comunicación".'' Page 34. Municipio Autónomo de Ponce. Oficina de Desarrollo Cultural. February 2012.

History

Costumes and masks

Economics

List of events

Carnaval queens and child queens

Carnaval Queens

Carnaval Child queens

See also

Notes

References

External links