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Together with Alicante, the carnival celebration in Torrevieja is known as the most exuberant and extravagant on the Costa Blanca. According to some, it could even compete with the famous celebrations in Aguilas on the Costa Dorada.
The festivities in Torrevieja will start on 14 February 2025 and will continue until 2 March. The many parades with partygoers dressed in colourful and bizarre costumes involve more than 2,000 people, who dance and play music with passion through the streets.
The highlights are, as usual, the Grant parade and the night parade, when the comparses (the local groups) pull out all the stops.
During the more than two weeks of the festivities, the residents hardly have a chance to catch their breath. Because in addition to the highlights, many other parades and competitions demand the public's attention, such as: the pet carnival (really), a parade with bands, a drag queen competition, children's carnival, a competition for the elderly and a parade of groups from other villages and towns.
Torrevieja is undoubtedly facing tiring weeks, but it can all consume a lot more energy. The people in Uruguay's capital Montevideo know this, where carnival lasts for 41(!) days.
The origin of carnival is not entirely clear. Here in Spain, according to the Christian faith, it has to do with the period of 40 days before the death of Christ. In the Netherlands, the 11th of the 11th month marks the starting signal. The choice of that date has to do with 11, which used to be seen as the number of fools. Perhaps that is why crazy behavior is expected during the carnival celebration.
What is certain is that other cultures celebrated an early form of carnival much earlier. For example, in the ancient Roman Empire, the Saturnalia festival would have been comparable to our modern-day carnival. That festival was held in mid-December in honor of the God Saturn.
In the glory years of the Egyptian empire, a primitive carnival-like festival was celebrated in honor of the new year and the rebirth of nature. In other parts of the world the roots lie in other events from the distant past.
