Ole, Ole, y Ole!

Cadiz hosts one of the biggest celebrations of Carnival in Spain if not in the world.  It is celebrated for a month every year.  During the week, “chirigotas” (choirs) perform at the Falla Theater.  They sing about politics, everyday life, and the pop culture in Spain.  Most of the songs are comical, making fun of the Royal Family and the problems Spaniards are facing because of the economic crisis.  Usually they are sung to the tune of a popular Spanish song.  The coolest part about the musical festival is that the groups are not professional even though they do a great job.  The performers are only citizens of Cadiz who want to participate in Carnival.  All the members in each group wear the same “disfraz” (costume) and they are incredible.  It is easy to see that each group puts a lot of effort throughout the whole year to make their performance memorable.

I have been watching the Carnival performances every night during dinner with my Senora.  I like to see all of the different costumes and try to understand the lyrics.  It’s exciting when I can both understand what the group is saying and the joke they are making.  One of my favorite groups dressed as babies.  Their songs were about the crisis in Spain and how it was better to be in their mothers’ bellies than to live in Spain during the crisis.   Click here to watch Mejó no salgo perform one of the songs.  It’s a funny performance even if you can’t understand what they are saying.  And if you listen, you’ll hear some familiar tunes!

During the weekends, the streets of Cadiz are filled with people to celebrate carnival.  Everyone dresses in elaborate costumes; it is like a giant Halloween party.  Last Saturday I went with my friends to celebrate Carnival.  It was wild.  I have never experienced anything like it before.  The amount of people that fill the streets is overwhelming.  A lot of people didn’t enjoy themselves because of the crowd, but I had a blast.  All the people from Cadiz were very friendly and happy to be celebrating carnival.  I loved talking with them and seeing all the different costumes. 

Two men dressed as Maria La Hierbabuena and me in my mask

One of the popular costumes for the men of Cadiz is Maria La Hierbabuena.  Maria La Hierbabuena is the famous heckler of Carnival.  For years, she has gone to see the performances every night.  Between songs, she yells out the same two-sentence phrase, to which everyone else replies, “Ole, Ole, y Ole”.  She is famous for her heckling, and had become part of the traditions in Cadiz.  I carried a copy of her famous words with me on Saturday to read on the streets-It was a lot of fun and the people of Cadiz were impressed that I knew a little something about their traditions!

The celebrations for Carnival continue until the sun rises.  We stayed in the city for most of the celebration and when we came back to Seville, people were out of the streets starting their morning routine.  Needless to say, I spent all of Sunday in bed trying to catch up on the sleep I had lost.  Carnival is not something I could handle every weekend, but it was a great experience and I am so happy that I went.