During the carnival, Barranquilla's normal activities are put aside as the city gets busy with street dances, musical and masquerade parades.

The Carnival Of Barranquilla includes dances such as the Spanish paloteo, African Congo, and indigenous mice y mica's.

Many styles of Colombian music are also performed, most prominently cumbia, and instruments include drums and wind ensembles.

[1] Also the UNESCO, in Paris on November 7, 2003, declared it one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and it was during Olga Lucia Rodriguez Carnival Queen year.

The Carnival starts on the Saturday before the Ash Wednesday with the Battle of the Flowers (La Batalla de Flores), which is considered one of the main activities.

Then, The Great Parade (La Gran Parada) on Sunday and Monday is marked by an Orchestra Festival with Caribbean and Latin bands.

The carnival originates from a combination of pagan ceremonies, catholic beliefs and ethnic diversity and is a mixture of the European, African and Indian traditions, dances and music.

Local beliefs date it back seven centuries and it is known that a great deal of the traditions were brought to America by the Spanish and Portuguese.

The coronation event for the new Carnival Queen is held on the Thursday preceding the Battle of Flowers parade.

Ever since the tradition of electing the carnival queen among upper-class young women of the city to preside over the festivities have been maintained, which has made commonplace to see, read and hear how the crown has been only rotated among a few families: Gerlein, Donado, Vengoechea, Lafaurie o Abuchaibe.

Many folkloric groups, cumbiambas, tamboras, disguises to the light of candles and people holding color lanterns participate in it.

In its beginnings, during the pre-carnival days, people used to call others by playing a guache (percussion instrument producing a similar sound to that of a maraca) to signal the commencement of dancing, which was accompanied by tamboras and flauta de millo as well as by candles to illuminate the night, making the surrounding people joyful.

She then remembered that her city, Barranquilla, did not have a nocturnal parade in its carnivals, therefore as soon as she came back to her city, she decided to achieve to bring about a similar parade and then named it as La Guacherna – that name originated from a memory she had back her childhood of when cumbia groups would go out on the streets to rehearse their rhythms and the surrounding people would say a Guacherna was passing by.

[3] During this time, Barranquilla people and foreigners coming in the city submerse themselves in the collective joy, drinking and dancing.

The Battle of Flowers is the oldest parade carried out in the Barranquilla Carnival, and was organised for the first time in 1903 through General Heriberto Arturo Vengoechea's initiative.

The floats now are equipped with loudspeakers and boarded by international and national singers who invites the spectators to celebrate and dance.

[citation needed] The most important event carried out on this day is: The great tradition and folklore parade (Gran parada de tradición y folclore).

In this festival, the participating musical ensembles compete for the coveted award called Congo de Oro in different categories.

In the night, a jocose meeting is celebrated either at Abajo neighborhood or at La Paz square, in which litanies, with simple verses and their characteristic intonation, are recited with the aim of making either a comment or a critique on current affairs.

Other venues are the 17 road (The King Momo Parade), the 44 road (Guacherna), the Romelio Martínez stadium (Orchestras festival, The queen crowning), La Paz square (the Proclamation reading), as well as verbenas and closed dancing rooms featuring live music, to which a ticket must be bought for accessing.

Verbenas are presumed to have appeared as early as the beginnings of the 20th century when surprise-visiting a residence by friends was a common activity.

The music consists of a mixture of cumbia, porro, mapale, gaita, chandé, puya, fandango, and fantastic merecumbés.

It is a party that gathers up tradition based on the creativity of the Colombian people, being expressed by a lot of forms of dancing, music, and by donning different costumes.

The Marimondas, which are hooded figures with long noses, floppy ears and bright trousers and vests, are the most popular costume.

"The cumbia is a good example of the fusion of Indian, Black and White elements that simulates a couple courting and is characterized by the elegance and subtle movements of the woman's hips to the rhythm of a drum, accordions, maracas, and flute.