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Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 14 March 2022. The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival maintains a traditional programme which has developed its character since the festivities were recovered, in 1976, at the end of the Franco dictatorship. Although in this exceptional year street celebrations have not been organised (the popular cavalcades and parades, or the massive open-air concerts), the 2022 Carnival, dedicated to preserving Planet Earth, still has classic events on its calendar such as the Carnival Queen Gala (perhaps its most symbolic), or the Murga and Comparsa contests, as well as the opening proclamation for the festivities (which this year was performed by the popular local group La Trova) or even the Junior Gala.

However, over the years, the festivities have been adapting to the times, incorporating new acts in an ever more comprehensive programme. We would expect nothing less, in a city with the cosmopolitan character of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It is no coincidence that the neighbourhood known as the cradle of modern Carnival should be La Isleta: it has developed alongside the important ports, Puerto de La Luz and Puerto de Las Palmas, an entry gate also for culture and outside influences reaching the city, influences which have shaped an open and broad-minded mentality.

Among those novelties there are contests such as the Body Painting Contest (which has now become an international competition) or the Dogs’ Carnival (consolidated over more than a decade’s existence, because the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival is for all comers). And, above all of these, the Drag Queen Gala, which appeared on the programme with the start of the new century. In the 21st century, the Drag Queen Carnival is the watchword for the festivities in the Gran Canaria capital. On 18 March, we will once more be holding a Gala which is followed all round the world, registering worldwide trending topics year after year and symbolising the very pinnacle of modernity in this Carnival.

This act, which can be taken as the triumph of tolerance, diversity, of the breaching of social mores, of respect and of coexistence, a gala which blurs the borders between genders, which is a major symbol of freedom, and which is followed by millions of people worldwide, is being streamed on the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival Facebook page and on the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria YouTube channel, in the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival 2022 playlist.

Photos: Tony Hernández

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Sunday 13 March 2022. A Graduate in Medicine from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Daniela comes from a family which from the very cradle passed on to her its passion for Carnival and for the rigour of studies. So, as the “Earth” Carnival’s leading lady has told us, it wasn’t unusual to see her at the age of four as the flag bearer for the group that, along with Ramón Sánchez, her parents founded: the Río Bamba Comparsa.

She wasn’t able to dance in the Comparsa, because taking her studies so seriously and with such responsibility was incompatible with rehearsing with the groups, but she did take part in anything that didn’t interrupt her studies, such as the fancy dress contests. So, Carnival after Carnival, staying awake right to the end of the Gala which on Friday took her to the Olympus of Queens, she followed the coronation of her sister Silvana as Queen closely, the year that she too was awarded the sash of honour of Junior Queen, 2007. Fifteen years later, it’s Daniela who carries the surnames Medina Ortega once again to the Carnival throne, with a costume which already says a lot about the winner: Embracing a dream is the work of Juan Carlos Armas Febles, who has included, among others, Daniela’s parents in his team; the couple has extensive experience in Carnival and in the design and making of Carnival costumes. Daniela’s mother has been behind many of the renowned Chiara Girls’ wardrobes.

Curiously, this dream is a shared dream because it was Juan Carlos Armas himself who brought Silvana to the throne, and fifteen years later he has managed it again with her little sister.

As Daniela has confessed, the dream starts now, on the day when her reign starts, a reign which she takes as a very close link with her native land, the Canary Islands, and her city, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. For her, feeling herself to be a part of Carnival and of her island are one and the same thing, quite inseparable. This is why, from the very moment when she heard that the contender sponsored by El Gusto por el Vino and Dormitorum was the new monarch, she grasped the sceptre and the crown with pride and responsibility, in the knowledge that the thing which she so loved to do, spread the love for Carnival among all those around her in the city of Barcelona where she is now settled, practising as a doctor specialising in cosmetic medicine, was now a commitment, since “Carnival is a lifelong experience.”

And the Carnival organisers cannot be more satisfied to have an ambassadress who, as part of her personality and of her principles, assumes the sense of duty and of seriousness. Not only because she has been constant in reaching her goals and achieving the marks which opened the gates of the Faculty of Medicine to her, and afterwards to her Master’s Degree in Cosmetic Medicine and Capillary Surgery, but also because when there was call for it, right in the middle of the outbreak of COVID-19, she became fully involved and made herself available to the most vulnerable groups of society in a city which was hit hard by the pandemic, working with the elderly in Barcelona.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 8 March 2022. In the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival there has been a popular catchphrase since the festivities were officially recovered in 1976, after the Franco dictatorship. Members of the public in costume would greet those who were not dressed up with a classic “Know who I am, mascarita?”, challenging them that way to identify them behind a mask. “Mascaritas” (Masked revellers) was the term that came to be used to refer to people joining in on the festivities dressed up in costume. The heart and soul of the celebration.

This particularly notable edition of Carnival is marked by the safety measures reflecting the evolution of the public health situation: only galas and contests have been scheduled (although that’s no small matter, since they occupy over three weeks of the calendar). But life cannot go on without humour. People have remodelled the catchphrase. So now, at a contest where protection again infection is compulsory, the catchphrase “Know who I am, face mask?” is to be heard.

The fact is that the general public has comfortably taken on board the obligation to wear a face mask inside the enclosure of Santa Catalina Park, where the festivities’ major activities take place. It’s an unusual sight: an audience, in many cases in costume, wearing face masks. And it is also proof of the resilience of a celebration that always survives, despite the obstacles it has come up against along the path of its history.

It is the sign of a safe Carnival, where the organisers have taken the greatest of care to guarantee the proper environment for the galas and contests. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a city which in general has been keen to meet the measures imposed by the pandemic, has taken it on board without any fuss. Even before the festivities, and without it being compulsory, many citizens had maintained the face mask wearing habit outside. Today the face mask is also the password for a very special Carnival.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2 March 2022. The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival has, for over a decade now, shown itself to be a very special celebration for pets and their owners too. Every year a morning is set aside on the huge Santa Catalina Park stage to hold the Dog Carnival: a unique gala, with the dogs parading alongside their owners in the very heart of the Carnival, dressed up to match the theme assigned to each year’s edition. And on this occasion, the programme is dedicated to the conservation of Planet Earth. Could there be a more appropriate event for such a special edition of Carnival? The event will be on Sunday, 6 March, at 12 pm.

Before this, the big contests for the Carnival groups will take place, from Wednesday until Saturday. These are the Murga and Comparsa group contests; these groups, despite having had a year which made it difficult to rehearse and prepare their appearance on stage, won’t miss their big date with the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival.

So, ten Murga groups will be competing with their songs. These are the Carnival nights when these groups come out on stage dressed up in their costumes, their ingenuity and the back-up of all their preparation, to sing with great humour about the major current local and worldwide issues. The first two rounds are held on 2 and 3 March, and the grand finale, on Saturday, 5 March.

On Friday, 4 March, it’s the turn of the Comparsa contest; these groups are the very spirit of Carnival at its most musical, and they too have a long history in the city’s most important festivities.

But we mustn’t forget that the week can’t go by without celebrating the Junior Gala: young contenders parade in wonderfully detailed costumes, to delight an audience which always gives the participants all its support.

We should remind everyone that all these events are programmed with full consideration for the safety measures in place which reflect the evolution of the state of affairs healthwise, bearing in mind that greater precaution is called for in these times. Carnival adapts to survive too!

The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival stands firm in a crisis, and this year, 2022, it emerges as a different kind of celebration: despite the restrictions imposed by the health crisis, the organizers have put together a wide-ranging programme of events in Santa Catalina Park, the heart of the festival. There, from 25 February, on a stage dedicated to the planet and with a message of working together to preserve it, murgas and comparsas will compete and drag queens and candidates for the festival throne will parade. There will also be events for families and for the youngest members of the audience, as well as the spectacular body painting contest and the Dog Carnival.

In a year when we needed to prepare a safe Carnival, with limited capacity and stringent safety measures associated with the health crisis, Santa Catalina stands as a true monument to the spirit of the celebrations. The theme chosen by the audience in 2022 is the planet and its conservation: this conveys a universal message, which will set the scene for the costumes of the groups and the candidates for the crowns, male as well as female .

None of the usual contests will be missing from the programme. There won’t be any mass concerts or street parties to accompany these galas and contests, but that’s not what really matters. As a “Fiesta of National Tourist Interest”, and a candidate for recognition as a “Fiesta of International Tourist Interest”, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival confirms its position as an expression of the popular spirit, resilient in the face of difficulties and ever optimistic, with a big smile behind the costumes.

Dates to remember

The festival gets underway on 25 February, with the official announcement, and remains at fever pitch for ten straight days in Santa Catalina, with the fancy dress, murgas and comparsas contests, as well as the galas to decide the Junior crown and the Grande Dame. Then come the most iconic events: the Carnival Queen Gala on 11 March and the Drag Queen Gala on 18 March. Just two days later we celebrate the symbolic Burial of the Sardine, the final act of a different kind of festival, affected by circumstances but still going strong after 2021, a year marked by COVID-19.

2021 meant the compulsory cancellation of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival. A break which not only robs thousands of citizens of their fun: it also leaves various professional groups without economic activity, groups which make up a unique economic fabric on these dates. Designers of outfits for candidates for the queens’ crowns, seamstresses, costume shops, catering businesses serving the celebrations in the Santa Catalina Park and Vegueta… or all the work which is generated by the performers in murga and comparsa groups, whose numerous members call for significant work in preparation and in their wardrobe.

Also included are the companies and stores which sponsor the drag queens and the gala candidates, who also produce economic turnover. It must be taken into account that advertising is traditionally highly rated in festivities where the main acts are broadcast on television and internet at an international level, and which will monopolise attention of local audiences throughout a whole month.

Nonetheless, the organisation of the ‘Imagina 2022’ television special (Televisión Canaria, La 2 and RTVE’s international channel) has rescued part of that further activity relating to the audiovisual world, driven every year by the competition nights in Santa Catalina Park. 20 companies and 400 workers set to work for that show, having been put in charge of an ambitious production, and at the end of the show Planet Earth was chosen as the main theme of the next Carnival in the Gran Canaria capital.

The special managed to make up in part for all of that specific carnival industry, in festivities which is much more than festivities in the city.