Carnival Traditions in Latin America

Experiencing Carnival in Latin America is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Carnival celebrations in places like Rio de Janeiro and Barranquilla are some of the most exciting experiences of one's lifetime. Latin America adopted Carnival celebrations that were brought to the New World by European colonizers, originally rooted in Roman Catholic traditions, and honoring the beginning of a New Year. Carnival season is one of the most eagerly awaited times of year in Latin America, the streets are filled with vibrant colors, extravagant costumes, dancing, music, food, and celebrations as communities across the continent show off their best cultural and folk traditions. Latin Americans celebrate Carnivals and Mardi Gras between January and March, leading up to Lent with week and month-long celebrations depending on the country. Carnival is a final chance to celebrate and have a good time before the solemn rituals and deprivations of Lent begin. There are specific traditions that vary throughout Latin America, with various carnivals incorporating dancing and music, some festivals, and the most famous and largest in the continent, below is information on some of the participating countries and destinations we offer for Carnival in Latin America.

Carnival in Rio - Brazil

The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is one of the most colorful, crazy, wild celebrations in the city streets and is famous for its over-the-top samba parades at the Sambadrome which features thousands of performers. Approximately 5 million people hit the Rio streets during carnival season which has been celebrated since 1840 then with polka and waltz dancing. Samba became the star in 1917, and over 500 city blocos (block parties) occur all over Rio during the carnival. Rio also hosts numerous masquerade balls and the most famous is the Magic Ball in the Copacabana Palace Hotel. Rio roaring Carnival is quite the celebration with bright colors, elaborate sequin costumes, delicious food, and large parade floats, it is officially the single largest Carnival celebration in the entire world. The main event is the parade that travels along the Sambadrome (a purpose-built parade runway) where the Samba schools compete to be named Carnival champions. Each school chooses a different theme for its float, there are hundreds of street parties and the party continues around the clock. The largest block party is at Cinelandia Square a great place to find all the action with live music, food, drinks, and dancing.

Inti Raymi - Cuzco - Peru

Inti Raymi is the most famous pre-Columbian festivals, also known as the Inca Festival of the Sun held in Cuzco on June 24th. The Sun was the Inca’s most revered God and the festival has been held since 1400 to honor him by sacrificing animals in his name. There are processions held all over the city along with vibrant music, dancing, flowers, and people sweeping away evils spirits. The main event takes place at the hilltop of Sacsayhuaman, and nowadays animals are no longer sacrificed. There are many street parties, dancing, parades, and fiestas held around Cuzco during the last week of June.

Carnival Oruro - Oruro - Bolivia

Carnival Oruru is the biggest celebration in the country with a history dating back centuries. The festival combines catholic and Pagan Traditions and has been declared by UNESCO as being a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage of Humanity. There are carnival processions with around 30,000 dancers, 10,000 musicians, and half a million attendees. The festival is famous for its unique carnival devil-like character that performs the famed devil dance “Oruro Diababla”, there are beautiful handmade costumes, music, dancing, and offerings made. The town of Oruro is located at an altitude of over 12,000 feet, the famous carnival takes place over six days and displays a range of popular arts in the form of masks, textiles, and embroidery. The carnival’s main event is the parade where dancers strut for twenty hours in a 2.5-mile stretch that ends at the Shrine of the Tunnel. The Oruro Carnival has been taking place for over 2,000 years and pays homage to the city’s patron saint “Virgen del Socavon (The Virgin of the Mineshaft). Oruru Carnival is considered one of the best in the world according to the Lonely Planet, it is the largest in the country, and it lasts 10 days leading up to Ash Wednesday.

Barranquilla Carnival - Barranquilla - Colombia

The Barranquilla Carnival is the biggest carnival in the world that takes place outside of Brazil, the carnival dates back centuries with many lasting traditions that come from the native Indians. Barranquilla is Colombia’s fourth-largest city, recognized by UNESCO in 2003 as being a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The celebration occurs for four days prior to Ash Wednesday, the “La Batalla de Flores” or Battle of the Flowers is the most popular and oldest parade lasting six hours followed by all night parties. The carnival welcomes over 30,000 people from all over the country who come to celebrate Colombia’s diversity, folklore, and modern art with street parties, music, traditional costumes, songs, and dance. La Gran Parada (The Grand Parade) is held on Sunday and fuses different cultural and folk dances based on historical and current events and there is an Orchestra Festival on Monday. Barranquilla’s Carnival is named “Quien lo vive, es quien lo goza” which translates to “Those who live it, are those who enjoy it”.

Montevideo Carnival - Montevideo - Uruguay

The Montevideo Carnival is the longest pre-Lenten carnival celebration in the world filled with parades, song, dance, music, comedy, and more. Madri Gras is an immense holiday for Uruguayans and the two main attractions at the Carnival in Montevideo include the Llamadas which are important Uruguayan traditions, and a murga which is a street performance filled with comedy. The carnival begins on January 21st and lasts over 45 days until mid-march. It is estimated that 90% of the population takes part in the celebrations, many local businesses close for a full month to enjoy the festivities, and there are temporary street theatres, and comedy solo street shows that take place all over the city. There are samba school competitions and theatrical performances with poetry and singing, and the famous South American dance “Candombe” is performed in the streets.

Gualeguaychu Carnival - Gualeguaychu - Argentina

Gualeguaychu Carnival is the largest and most important Argentinian Carnival that takes place in Gualeguaychu and features loads of parades and parties, famous for its dancers, beautiful costumes, and elaborate floats. The carnival is the most emblematic in the country and attracts thousands of attendees every Saturday in January and February. The city of Gualeguaychu with parades called comparsas, similar to the Brazilian ones, and murgas which are of Uruguayan heritage with music, dancers, costumes, musicians, singers, and circus jugglers. The carnival consists of three processions that feature hundreds of artists on stage in the popular Corsodromo, a .31 mile runway that allows troupes to put on an impressive show for visitors from across the world.

The Feast of the Virgin of Candelaria - Puno - Peru

The Feast of the Virgin of Candelaria is held in Puno, Peru during the month of February, it starts with a religious service and is followed by equally pious processions through the city. The festival starts with traditional dances including the well know Diablada, and everyone joins in for dancing, drinks, and endeavors, this particular festival has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage. The performers dress up in elaborate vibrant costumes decked out with lights.

Salvador Carnival - Salvador da Bahia - Brazil

Salvador Carnival is the second-largest and second most famous carnival celebrated in Brazil with around 2 million attendees. It is held in Salvador da Bahia and has been officially recognized in the Guinness Book of Records as being the world’s biggest street party, the parties go on for over 16 hours a day for six days straight. The Salvador Carnival is all about the Trio Electricos, which are enormous moving stages that either feature live bands or DJs on top of them, and parade through the streets of Salvador. Salvador’s parades take place through 16 miles of the city’s streets on three separate ‘circuits’; The Campo Circuit takes place in the city center and finishes in the main square, The Barra-Ondina Circuit takes place along the glitzy beachfront, and The Pelourinho Circuit which takes place in the colonial district.

Carnivals of Panama - Panama City - Panama

The Carnivals of Panama, also called the Festival of King Momo is celebrated for four consecutive days before Ash Wednesday in Panama City, and Las Tablas. These carnivals include Carnival queens, and floats as well as its two most traditional events; the Mojaderas (water hoses meant to soak you), and the burial of the sardine, a marine figure carried in a funeral procession that announces the end of the Carnival. The occasion begins with the election of the Carnival Queen and continues with Sunday parades featuring dancers, musicians, and women in vividly colored skirts dancing through the streets. The famous mojaderas (drenching) is where attendees in public squares are drenched by water trucks, hoses, or buckets of water. The carnival ends on Tuesday night with the overly theatrical burial of a sardine concluding the festivities.

Paraty Carnival - Paraty - Brazil

The Paraty Carnival occurs on Saturday when people head to the nearby beach and smear their bodies in mud, also known as “Bloco de Lama” (Mud Carnival) in Portuguese, the celebration is famous for reconnecting man with nature. Carnival celebrations in Paratay are pretty low-key compared to other Brazilian Carnivals, the parades and such mostly occur at night winding through the old cobblestone streets with puppet figures.

Mardi Gras - Antigua - Guatemala

Mardi Gras celebrations in Guatemala usually begin on Thursday and finish on Martes de Carnaval with musical parades taking place all over the country. Easter is a huge celebration in Latin America, In Guatemala, they hold a week-long event in the colonial city of Antigua with processions, carpet making, and candlelit vigils. There are locals selling floats with flowers and sculptures of Christ on the Cross, it is a tradition for kids to wear costumes and prepare unique handmade cascarones, and colorful egg shells full of confetti (flour or ash) known as pica-pica. One of the highlights of this celebration is when children crack the cascarones on each other’s heads. The streets are filled with spectators, live music, and costumes come Friday night and there is a party on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The pica-pica tradition has taken place for over 400 years.

The Carnival in Cajamarca - Cajamarca - Peru

The Carnival in Cajamarca, Peru is a blend of traditional Andean folklore and Spanish Catholic culture. There are many events that take place during Carnival, many close to the famous Plaza de Armas in the heart of the city, some of the most popular events are; “Corso de Carnaval” a parade of beautifully decorated cars, and “Concurso de Coplas”, a music competition, where the composer and singer win awards. The old streets and buildings of Cajamarca are decorated to match the colorful performers that take part in the exciting parade, they wear a range of incredible costumes, some including very creepy masks, and devils who scare unsuspecting passers-by with acrobatic movements. These celebrations usually take place in February and last three days during the week before lent.

Encarnacion Carnival - Encarnacion - Paraguay

Encarnacion Carnival is an annual celebration held in the city of Encarnacion, Paraguay. It is one of the largest carnival celebrations in the country attracting over 250,000 people, popular amongst the younger generation that like to party all night and wear fancy attire. Famed for its Brazilian-style music with a unique Paraguayan twist, the city is the scene of incredible music, extravagant floats, and colorful costumes complemented by glitter and feathers. The Encarnacion Carnival takes place from January 23rd to February 20th and usually runs for 5 days, distributed only on Saturdays, with a show in the Sambodromo once a week until completing the five-day celebration. The carnivals consist of the competition of various groups or clubs, each corsos has 5 groups of at least 60 participants and 4 floats that must perform a great show in the Sambodromo or Corsodromo of the city for an hour. Encarnacion calls itself the “Carnival of Paraguay” or “Carnival Capital”, each year this laid-back seaside city bursts into life with the explosion of carnival spirit, creative energy, music, and dance.

Carnival in Recife - Recife - Brazil

Carnival in Recife and Olinda, Brazil is said to be two of Brazil’s best carnivals, the cities are situated just 4.34 miles from each other, so they are intertwined and attendees switch back and forth between the two celebrations. These two celebrations are considered the third largest carnival celebrations in the country, they have been named the most authentic carnival celebrations. Recife hosts the Desfile do Galo da Madrugada, which translates to the Parade of the Rooster at Dawn, the parade begins Saturday at 6 am and is led by a huge rooster statue, the rooster leads the parade and everyone joins in along the parade route. The Rooster Parade ends up having over 2 million people join, which officially makes it the largest carnival parade in the entire world. The Recife Carnival Spirit can be experienced between Friday, February 25th, and Tuesday, March 2nd. Frevo is the unique native Indian and African maracatu beats with high energy sounds featured in the early morning Parade of the Rooster and through the Carnival in Recife. The Night of the Silent Drums takes place at Praca Terco in Recife with African drum beats, rhythms of the samba, afoxe, maracatu's, and reggae played through the night until the early morning hours.