Back in 1976, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival could finally be celebrated openly, after being an underground fiesta during the almost four decades of the Francoist dictatorship, period in which they were forbidden. Gone were the days of the “Winter Fiestas” (Carnival’s undercover name) and the city began to get back into the festive spirit before the start of Lent.

During those first years, Carnival was above all a spontaneous celebration, the only organised event being the first Carnival Queen Galas at the Pérez Galdós Theatre. However, in the 80s the fiesta started taking over Santa Catalina Park with stages becoming more and more spectacular year after year. This became the venue for galas and, later on, for murga and comparsa contests. Throughout the years, the stage is decorated to completely embody each year’s official Carnival theme.

This, along with the celebration of 100th Anniversary of artist Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre’s birth back in 1986, Santa Catalina started dressing up for the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival in fantastic costumes: Gulliver’s Travels (1988), The Mayan Civilisation (1990) or Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (1994) and even Ancient Rome (1996), Ancient Egypt (2000), Mount Olympus (2008) or Magic and Fantastical Creatures (2018).

In recent years, Carnival’s theme has been chosen by the people, with an online voting system. Each year they give their verdict among the several themes the Organisation proposes. Though this 2021 the pandemic has also put a halt to this tradition, the city will dress up in its Carnival costume soon!

Carnival Themes and Stages