The real Chaplin died in December 1977: specifically, on Christmas Day. The universal filmmaker, comedian and writer left behind a halo of immortality on everything he had introduced to pop culture. Just a few months later, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival dedicated its 1978 poster to the famous Little Tramp. It was the third year Carnival was celebrated after the Francoist dictatorship, so the Organisation’s gesture tapped into the spirit of openness and freedom to celebrate the fiestas even back then in those new beginnings.

Though, even before then, since 1976, this character began to appear on the Grancanarian capital’s streets during Carnival: that is, a skilled Chaplin impersonator, a man from Santa María de Guía (in the north of Gran Canaria) that soon acquired the nickname “Charlot del Carnaval de Las Palmas” (The Las Palmas Carnival Tramp). This man was Santiago García Díaz, one of the most famous characters in the history of the fiesta.

Don Santiago stayed faithful to Carnival year after year, always walking with The Tramp strut and moving his moustache comically. The Organisation even reserved a spot for him in Pablo Losa’s 2007 poster, an edition dedicated to La Belle Epoque.

Santiago García died shortly after the 2001 Carnival. His funeral was, as he wished, “a party full of carnival enthusiasts wanting to have fun”, with Carnival groups and party characters, all dressed up in costumes. Today, the city commemorates Don Santiago with a square named after him and a statue in the neighbourhood of Sansofé.

In 2021, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival comes to a compulsory halt: the crises generated by the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented the celebrations for the first time since the Francoist dictatorship. The “fiesta”, however, is still alive in the heart of the city. And in the heart of the organisers themselves, who are broadcasting constant messages on the digital sites this year, reminding everyone that the flame is still alight (although, of course, avoiding the celebrations not recommended by Public Health, and inviting us to remember previous editions). Why is this celebration so significant? So much so that it should be so sorely missed?

Well, Carnival goes practically hand in hand with the history of the Gran Canaria capital itself, which was founded in 1478. In the 16th century, we find the first references to masked dances (the first, in 1574 in the house of Canon Pedro León, on the occasion of the wedding of Matías Carrasco). On more characteristic dates, the constant flow of Italian visitors encouraged the organisation of these first Carnival festivities. In 1521 a group of people from Genoa promoted these first popular fiestas. The Carnival celebrations would continue to be held, in one way or another, throughout the following centuries.

In the 19th century, it was the institutions themselves which began to set up the first festivities, along with the popular cavalcades of floats. The Club Las Palmas, the Círculo de Amistad and the Círculo Mercantil were some of the bodies organising these events. Carnival came to occupy spaces in what are now the Pérez Galdós Theatre and the Gabinete Literario.

During the dictatorship, Carnival, then banned, dressed itself up as the Winter Fiestas. People rustled up disguises, which they would cover up with blankets or sheets until they got to the place where the clandestine celebration was to take place. People from the La Isleta quarter were particularly active in keeping this flame alive.

The tradition of Carnival was recovered in 1976. If continued to grow over time, bringing in its murga satirical performances and comparsa street bands and its iconic Gala Queen, contemporary events which have come to be a big feature of the 21st century programme: from the spectacular and famous Drag Queen Gala to the Dog Carnival or Body Painting, along with everything surrounding the children’s Carnival and its Queen, and the Grand Dame’s Gala. The cavalcades of floats have survived five centuries, a sign of a celebration which is the watchword for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Photo credit: Canarian historical photographic archives. Gran Canaria Council. Fedac.

That was when Borja Casillas really entered into the role that has made him famous: as Sethlas, he put on a spectacular show, which drew several rounds of applause from the audience. As well as his staging, dancing and impressive costume, he performed several pirouettes, surprisingly demanding for a drag artist in his high platform soles. But he pulled it off to perfection, with his fantasy “Si la tentación es hermosa imagínate el pecado” (“If the temptation is beautiful, just imagine the sin”). Supported by an effective dance troupe, Sethlas ended to thunderous cheers from the crowd, the best possible endorsement.

The audience gave his show an enthusiastic reception, and the jury (Carnival experts, journalists… and the viewers themselves watching a gala broadcast worldwide) awarded Borja his second Carnival victory (he had already won in 2017). He will act once again as a symbol of the festivity (together with the Carnival Queen, Minerva Hernández), and is now part of the history of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival.

The great carnival parade par excellence is known as the Cabalgata and is planned from 5 pm onwards on Saturday 29. It will start from Castillo de La Luz, an old fortress where the islanders defended the city from buccaneers such as the British Drake and Hawkins, or the Dutch Van der Does. Over one hundred floats will leave the castle, decorated with in spirit of the 2020 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival theme “Once upon a time…” These colourfully decked-out floats will carry scores of dancing mascaritas (costumed carnival-goers) who’ll greet the cheering crowds all along the route towards San Telmo Park.

The Drag Queen will shine from the very beginning, hailed by the crowds as regent in the first ceremony in the company of the other drag contest finalists. Carnival Queen, Minerva Hernández, will also take the spotlight with her maids of honour, along with the Great Dame, Chari Alvarado, who was crowned queen of the senior category. And the final touch: the countless Carnival groups: murgas and comparsas that will sing and dance along the entire route towards Parque San Telmo to culminate in Santa Catalina Park for the last night – Noche de Carnival – and its concerts.

On the following day, Sunday 1 March, two parades are scheduled to leave the renovated boulevard of Mesa y López, one of the city’s main open-air shopping areas. The Children’s Parade starts at 5 pm, led by our little queen and her maids of honour. The parade ends at Mercado del Puerto, a unique gastronomical and leisure hub with striking architecture designed by Gustavo Eiffel, located at the far end of Las Canteras beach.

Finally, the Burial of the Sardine will start from Mesa y López at 7 pm. This symbolic funeral procession takes a huge mock fish to Las Canteras beach to burn it, accompanied by the Carnival Queen, Drag Queen and the Great Dame, along with all the Carnival groups and hoards of widows that weep inconsolably at the end of the celebrations. We say goodbye to this year’s festivities with the smouldering sardine evaporating out at sea, as dazzling fireworks light up Las Canteras to announce that, once upon a time…there was a fairy-tale Carnival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.