Barcelona Carnaval 2013 Barcelona carnival 2013. The carnaval week returns to Barcelona in February. The 2013 Barcelona carnaval dates are Thursday 7th February 2013 to Wednesday 13th February 2013. In Catalan the carnival is called "carnestoltes."
Barcelona Carnival Week in 2013. What to see and programme. The Barcelona Carnival is a week long programme of many big and small events and processions that starts on Thursday 7th February 2013 and finishes on Wednesday 13th February 2013. You can see all the major events on the carnival website which is in Catalan and Spanish. Carnival is called "carnestoltes" in Catalan. If you prefer an English overview we have also listed some of the top Barcelona Carnival events further down this page and some useful information about carnival traditions. In Barcelona the carnival is mostly for the children and families. For more grown-up street party carneval events then we can recommend Sitges, which is just south of Barcelona. Their carneval is on the same days and lots of revelling going on there.
Please note that Barcelona no longer has a central "Gran Rua" parade. From the 80'ies and up until 2011, the Barcelona carnival featured a big central carnaval parade which was called the "Gran Rua de la Ciutat Barcelona" and also called the "Rua central." But from 2012 this part of the Barcelona carnaval was taken out because the city council of Barcelona wanted - and still want - to focus on more historical and traditional elements of Barcelona´s carnival. And why not?
So the focus now is to create a new carnaval format that takes inspiration from the ancient carnavals from previous centuries dating back to the 14th century. Great idea! So for 2013 there will be many local and festive events and over 30 local carnaval parades in all areas of Barcelona throughout the carnavel week. The biggest parades are on Saturday 9th February and Sunday 10th February. For tourists we can recommend the parades in the Ribera/Born area of Barcelona's old city. To get updates on the Barcelona carnaval visit the Barcelona carnaval website or search on Twitter using the hashtag #carnavalbcn. To see extravagant and colourful carnaval parades in 2013, we can also recommend a visit to Sitges, which is a popular resort town just south of Barcelona, where the Sitges Carnival is celebrated on the same days as Barcelona. The Sitges carnaval is famous for its flamboyant parades, both thanks to a fantastic effort by the locals and also to the vibrant and enthusiatic gay community in Sitges.
2013 Carnaval highlights & parades Dijous Gras - Fat Thursday - Jueves Ladero Thursday 7th February 2013 is Fat Thursday and the first day of the carnival. Fat Thursday called “Dijous Gras” in Catalan and “Jueves Ladero” in Spanish is similar to Shrove Tuesday in English. The general theme of a carnival is to eat, drink, dance and generally have a huge party and it starts on Fat Thursday, because this is the day when you start to stuff yourself during carnaval week in preparation for the fasting period of Lent, which begins after the carneval officially ends. The markets of Barcelona celebrate Fat Thursday with many food events and competitions all over Barcelona. The main character of the Spanish carnevals is the King Carnival - called “Rei Carnestoltes" in Catalan and "Rey Carnaval" in Spanish. The King Carnaval ceremony and parade opens the carnaval week in Barcelona. The symbolic role of the Carnival King is to carry all the sins of power, and take responsibility for all the bad things that occurred throughout the year. On the last day of Carnival, the carnival king’s last will and testament is read out in public. Then he is condemned and burnt, which is signal to have a huge feast. The sad death of the King marks the end of the carnival with funeral corteges complete with grieving widows in black and other events in his honour all over the city. > Barcelona carnaval pictures from Mercat de la Llibertat
L'Arribo - The arrival of King Carnaval - Rei Carnestoltes. The first parades of the carnival are to celebrate the arrival of the King Carnival. You can see the Rei Carnestoltes in processions in many local "barrios" neighbourhoods usually starting from "mercat" food markets in Barcelona including the mercat Barceloneta, the mercat Sagrada Família, and the mercat Santa Caterina. For tourists we recommend the procession in old city centre's Ribera/Born area where the arrival procession of Rei Carnestoltes starts from the Santa Caterina market, then heads down streets Avgda Francesc Cambó, Pou de la Figuera, Montanyans, Allada Vermell, Rec to finish on the Passeig del Born at the back of the Santa Maria del Mar church. The Rei Carnestoltes parade in the Born area starts at 18:30 on Thursday 7th February 2013. > See pictures from Rei Carnestoltes arrival parade
La Cavalcada del Rei Carnestoltes Sunday 10th February 2013. Time: 17:30 - 5.30pm Starts from: Santa Caterina market in Born area of Barcelona's old city One of the biggest parades of the 2013 Barcelona carneval is the Cavalcada del Rei Carnestoltes on Sunday 10th February 2013 in various areas of Barcelona. If you are in the old city of Barcelona, then we recommend the Cavalcada del Rei parade in the Ribera /Born area on Sunday 10th February at 17:30 - 5.30 starting from the Santa Caterina market and ending at Passeig de Picasso. The procession route is Mercat de Santa Caterina then streets of Avgda Francesc Cambó - Via Laietana - Argenteria - Plaça de Santa Maria - Carrer de Santa Maria - Fossar de les Moreres- Passeig del Born - Rec - Princesa and ending on Passeig de Picasso. > Find all Barcelona carnaval parades (in Spanish)
La Taronjada procession Sunday 10th February 2013 Time: 18:00 - 6pm Starts on: Passeig Picasso between streets Fusina andi Riberain Born area of Barcelona La Taronjada. Inspired by the original battle of orange throwing, La Taronjada is now part of the King Carnival parade and is a colour battle on the Passeig de Picasso street between streets of de Ribera and Fusina, where orange balloons and confetti will do battle.
Other Barcelona Carneval activities Most of the activities during the Barcelona Carnaval are in the barrios (neighbourhoods) of Barcelona. Each barrio (neighbourhood) organizes their own parades and festivities, so keep your eyes open for posters advertising carnaval events in your area or visit the carnival website for a full list of activities and programme. The activities are usually centred around the civic centres and the food markets in each district of Barcelona. Carneval activities in Barcelona usually include parades, lots of competitions for the kids, like fancy dress competitions and food and cooking competitions with prizes for everyone. Among the activities you will always find some that celebrate the traditions of eating eggs, usually in the form of tortilla (omelette) cooking and tasting competitions. And don't miss the “botifarrada,” where everyone eats botifarra (Catalan sausage) to their hearts content. Apart from tortillas and botifarra, sardines are the other main ingredient in Catalan carnival tradition and there are many sardine tasting events. The Barcelona market organization "Mercats de Barcelona," award the best decorated stalls and shops in each food market the traditional and much coveted Golden Pepper award called "Pebrot d'Or" – “Pimiento de Oro.”
Many Barcelona nightclubs have carnival parties during the carnival week. Find top Barcelona clubs and lounges here. Also on certain days of the carnival there are open days at selected civic buildings and museums.
Barcelona Carnaval finale “Enterrament de la sardine” – Burying the Sardine. The Barcelona Carnival ends on Ash Wednesday, “el Miércoles de Ceniza." Wednesday 13th February 2013. The ending is celebrated with the traditional the “Enterrament de la Sardina,” which means “burying the sardine”, which marks the end of the carnival period. This takes place in various districts of Barcelona. The main "Enterro de la sardina" will be at 11:00 on Wednesday 13 February in the Parc de la Ciutadella
Barcelona Carneval website. Website BCN markets Civic centres Barcelona - local carnaval activities Hotels Barcelona Self-catering apartments Barcelona Sitges Carnaval website Highlights Sitges Carnival Origins of Carnival Name The origin of the name "carnival" is disputed and there are various explanations. The most popular one is that the word comes from Italian “carne levare” which in turn is derived from the Latin words “caro” meaning flesh or meat, and “vale” meaning goodbye or farewell. So "Carnival" means literally "Goodbye to meat" which makes sense as the Carvival falls before Lent which is a 40 day and night period of fasting and in olden days Catholics were forbidden to eat meat during Lent. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, “el Miércoles de Ceniza” and lasts 40 days. This is a Christian tradition of preparing for Easter by giving the soul a good spring cleaning before Easter is celebrated. The Catalans particularly relish celebrating carnaval - not least because it was forbidden to celebrate carnival in Barcelona between 1936 and 1980 under the rule of dictator Franco.
