The Carnaval de Ponce officially Carnaval Ponceño, is an annual celebration held in Ponce

Ponce, Puerto Rico

Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...

, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

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

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...

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

Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...

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

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

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

Mardi Gras

The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...

 of New Orleans, the Carnival of Venice

Carnival of Venice

The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival, held in Venice, Italy. The Carnival starts 40 days before easter and ends on Shrove Tuesday , the day before Ash Wednesday.-History:...

, and Rio de Janeiro

Rio Carnival

The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous festival held before Lent every year and considered the biggest carnival in the world with two million people per day on the streets. The first festivals of Rio date back to 1723.-Samba schools:...

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

Travel Channel

The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...

 on 7 August 2011.

History

The Carnaval de Ponce began in the middle of the nineteenth Century. There are no documents stating its official origins, but there are documents mentioning the celebration back in 1858. In 1937, the Carnaval was officially adopted by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.

Costumes and masks

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

Vejigante

A vejigante is a clown-like character in Puerto Rican festival celebrations . Traditional colors of the Vejigantes were black, red, white, and yellow. Today, vejigantes wear brightly colored, ornate masks of all colors and a costume with bat-like wings...

s", which is a colorful costume traditionally representing the devil

Devil

The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...

 or, simply, evil. Vejigantes carry blown cow bladder

Bladder

Bladder usually refers to an anatomical hollow organBladder may also refer to:-Biology:* Urinary bladder in humans** Urinary bladder ** Bladder control; see Urinary incontinence** Artificial urinary bladder, in humans...

s with which they make sounds and hit people throughout the processions. The vejigante masks are made of paper mache and usually have many horns.

The Carnaval ends with the Burial of the Sardine, at which point everyone signs a song in Spanish that translates into:


The Carnival is dead now
They are burying him;
Throw just a little dirt in
So he can rise again.

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

External links

• Carnaval information at StudioPorto
• Carnaval information at EnCarnaval.com
• Al Carnaval de Ponce at Primera Hora
  Primera Hora
  Primera Hora is a newspaper based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and distributed daily throughout the island.The newspaper is characterized by its light format and easy reading. Its tagline is "Easy to read".- History :...
  
  
• Carnaval information at Puerto Rico Museum of Art
  Puerto Rico Museum of Art
  The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico is one of the most prestigious art museums in Puerto Rico.-History:...
  
  
• Slide show of the Carnival