Graham Denby: carnival time in Portugal

Mar 10 2010 by Graham Denby

THE big event over here in Portugal at this time of year is the annual street carnival.

One translation of ‘carnival’ says the word is from ‘carne vale’, or ‘farewell to meat’, marking the abstinence of Lent.

The tradition of Carnival is predominantly in Roman Catholic countries and the Portuguese version is closely allied to the Brazilian festivals because the two countries are historically linked.

This is since Pedro Alvares Cabral first popped ashore in Brazil at the beginning of the 16th century, followed by a host of tourists and sightseers, conveniently dressed for carnival – that is, wearing helmets and armour and carrying swords and shields! Our event was altogether more social.

On the Tuesday I motored into town at about 2.30pm, passing a number of decked-out trucks on their way in and shedding balloons and trimmings every which way. Finding a parking spot was difficult because a number of the streets were blocked off for the procession. The main body of the parade was gathering adjacent to the central square for a 3pm departure.

Prior to this we were kept entertained by a street band complete with scantily dressed, rhythmically swaying Samba girls ... don’t your eyes hurt when you forget to blink for 30 minutes!

At 3pm the carnival parade moved off, headed by said dancers and their Latin band and followed by any number of floats and marching, dressed-up participants.