Carnival in Mexico
Larger celebrations are also found in the Baja California and Yucatán Peninsulas, similar to other Carnivals with floats, queens and costumes but are not as large as those in Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans.
Other important Carnival variations can be found in Tlaxcala, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Jalisco, Morelos and some parts of Mexico City.
[4][5][6] Its popularity during the rest of the colonial period continued because it was one time when normal rules could be broken, especially with the use of masks to hide identities from the authorities.
"[7] Public celebrations of Carnival waned in the 19th century after Mexico's independence and later Liberal movements discouraged it as an element of the country's colonial past.
From the late 19th century to the early 20th, the festival as a major public event has made something of a comeback in areas such as Veracruz, northwestern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula.
[3][9][13] Most of the larger carnivals start with the burning or condemning of an effigy called “mal humor” (bad mood), the election of a Carnival Queen and sometimes a King Momo, parades with floats (especially on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday), street parties and vendors and concerts by musicians playing popular and traditional musical styles.
[17] The Carnival has various main events which are designed to appeal to different groups of people, two parades, a street party with live music, two food festivals, selection of the royal court and concerts.
[19] During the Carnival of 2017, in an effort to combat the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, the state's Secretariat of Health distributed 80,000 condoms and performed rapid HIV tests.
The main festivities are now held at the Paseo de Olas Altas and at the Claussen next to the ocean, both of which are closed to traffic on these days and fill with about 60,000 people each night.
These early 18th century Carnival traditions with people in colorful costumes dancing to African-derived chuchumbé rhythms provoked the disapproval of church officials.
In the late 19th century, Liberals decided it was a vestige of colonialism and sought to eliminate it which made celebration of the event a private affair among the wealthy.
[23][24] After the Mexican Revolution, carnival was re initiated in 1925 with a committee sponsored by the Alianza de Ferrocarrileros, the first citywide celebration of the event in about fifty years.
[24] The first Carnival queen was Lucha Raigadas and the first Rey Feo (Ugly King) was Carlos Puig “Papiano” selected in 1926.
In between there are the coronation of the Carnival Queen and her court, six parades with a minimum of thirty floats each that run between Veracruz and Boca del Río, dances, concerts by well-known artists which have included Enrique Iglesias, Espinoza Paz, Paulina Rubio and Cristian Castro and charity events.
The Ensenada Carnival extends over six days and consists of the quema del mal humor, dances, parades with floats, a royal court and more.
[33] One local tradition is youth tossing flowers, confetti and even eggshells filled with flour or indigo which dyes the person who is hit blue.
Schools, clubs and community organizations spend weeks making floats, costumes and practicing dance and music performances, with the groups competing against each other.
The Campeche carnival also has a side festival called El Corso Infantil where children dress in costume and run the streets singing and dancing tropical music.
From the first day, the air is filled with the sounds of blanks being fired as mock battles among the battalions are enacted with fake guns using real gunpowder.
[9] While the Carnival in the city of Veracruz is thoroughly modern, those celebrated in north of the state are much more traditional, including elements such as prayers for good crops and the well being of the community.
In Ojite de Matamoros, men dress as women, priests, doctors and hunchbacks and perform a dance that recalls the struggles between the indigenous and the Spanish.
The four main neighborhoods of the municipality compete against each other in dance and for best costume with people dressing as monkeys, death, devils, women and even extraterrestrials and many more.
[39] Other communities with significant Carnival celebrations include Jiutepec, Emiliano Zapata, Xochitepec, Tlaltizapán, Tepoztlán and Yautepec.
[38] The Carnival of Pinotepa de Don Luis in the state of Oaxaca is notable for its use of satire especially related to matrimony and sometimes divorce using a dance called Tejorones.
Carnival always ends with a mock battle in the central plaza between two rival neighborhoods called Guadalupe and La Loma, throwing fruit and dried seeds.
[40] In the Mixteca Baja, Carnival is called Joc-lo which runs for three days ending with the “quema del gallo” (burning of the rooster).
[41] The Carnivals of San Juan Chamula and Huistán in Chiapas involve the participation of most of the population, many of whom dress as monkeys adorned in multicolored ribbons.
[6] The largest Carnival celebration in Tabasco is in the municipality of Tenosique with hundreds of people wind up covered in flour, egg and water from projectiles thrown at each other.
