Barranquilla's carnival

One of the big event in colombia is the barranquilla's carnival. Barranquilla's Carnival is a carnival with traditions that date back to the XIX century. Its takes place 4 days before Ash wednesday wich is approximatly Febuary/March. It start with the pre-carnival in january.
The carnival is an explosion of colours,dances, and masquerades parades. This day allow colombian to express their creativity and show their work, because they prepare the carnival months sooner.The Barranquilla Carnival includes dances like the Spanish paloteo, African congo and indigenous mico y micas. Many styles of Colombian music are also performed, most prominently cumbia, and instruments include drums and wind ensembles. Each character of the carnival have a specificity.The more famous character of this carnival is the marimonda.

The Marimonda character

Carnival's history

Its history has been passed down from father to son to keep its roots from being lost in the mists of time.It is said that the Spaniards brought with them the tradition of celebrating the European carnival.The slaves in Barranquilla combined with their own traditions, by taking to the streets on the cited dates, dressed in typical garb, singing, dancing and playing their instruments.
More recent tales tell that toward the year 1903, General Carajo proclaimed himself President and started dancing in Ancha Street; in 1918, the first Carnival Queen was chosen and enjoyed her crowning amid the rhythm of waltzes, champagne and Scotch, in a private club in the city, while the general public gathered in the well-known "salones burreros" or "corralejas" set up in the streets to the accompaniment of the native "cumbia" dance, drums, bagpipes.
In 1921, the young people protested over the separate organization and decided to join the general public and make it a single festival.
From then on, the "cumbias" and other dances, parades and costumes have taken on different expressions reflecting the people creativeness and culture.
The Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed by UNESCO, in November of 2003, as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.


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http://www.carnavaldebarranquilla.org/previo/default.html