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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Carnaval in Cape Verde

One of the events that is celebrated in many countries of the world is Carnaval or Carnival.

In this respect, Cape Verde is no exception. Each of the islands, from Sal to São Vicente, celebrates the festival of Carnaval. While the historical details of Carnaval may vary by location all over the world, in general, it was either derived from African slaves celebrating their freedom from slavery, or in other contexts, it was the last fling preceding the stringent religious observances of the 40 days of Lent. These are the general themes of the history of Carnaval.

Whatever the specifics of the history in any particular locale might be, the fact remains that today, residents and visitors, young and old alike can participate in the activities by either officially joining a group of costumed revelers or simply jumping into the non-costumed groups of party-goers dancing in the street.

Participating in the celebrations is perfectly safe and a ton of fun. And as for those who prefer to stand at the sidelines while others have all the fun ... it's an interesting study in the humanity that connects us all. Either way, it is certainly an enjoyable lesson in Cape Verde's history and culture.



Here is a brief clip of school-children participating in the history and culture of their nation.


So, plan to visit any of the islands of Cape Verde for Carnaval and let your hair down just a little.

11 comments:

Gillian Francella said...

Hi,
Just came across your blog via Twitter. I work with www.WorldReviewer.com, an award-winning travel site. We're interested in guest bloggers for our new Cape Verde site and also sites to link back to us. We offer a link back as well from our World Reviewer website that has a page rank of 4.
Please contact Gillian Francella at gfrancella@temple.edu

Thank you!

Emilio Fernandez said...

Good morning how are you?

My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.

I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.

For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Cape Verde? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Cape Verde in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:

Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain

If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.

Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.

Yours Sincerely

Emilio Fernandez

Angelo said...

Hello Emilio. I welcome your comments. I hope that one of my readers in Cape Verde will send you a letter per your request.

Charlotte Lima said...

What I nice blog! Is it still active? My mother is from St. Antao, but we live in Oslo, Norway. I want to get to know my roots better, so I'm very greatful for information like this :)

Charlotte

Angelo said...

Hi Charlotte. Thanks you for your comment. The blog is definitely active with hundreds of readers visiting on a weekly basis to learn more about Cape Verde. I'm glad to help keep you informed about your roots.

Anonymous said...

Just came back from Cape Verde. Loved it! I visited Santiago (Praia), Sao Vicente (Mindelo) and Santo Antao (Porto Novo, Paul, and Ribiera Grande).

I will be there in February for carnival! This time, I will also visit Brava and Fogo:)

Angelo said...

Thanks for your comments. Be sure to post your comments about our Carnaval after your next visit.

Anonymous said...

just one question....are carnival dates predictable? i checked the past 3 years, and it always seems to fall on the few days right before ash wednesday. i'm wondering if it's safe to book hotel rooms under this assumption. i would hate to get there too early or too late for the carnaval in Mindelo.

Angelo said...

Carnaval is always celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Just like Rio, the Caribbean and so on.

Unknown said...

Please I want to know if this blog is still active till now cos I haven't read anything new from 2017

Angelo said...

I am active but I have not written any new articles since 2012-2013. Is there something you need help with? If you are looking for other information for tourists coming to Cape Verde or expats interested in living and working here, you should visit Expat.com. That is where I am and many others are actively contributing.

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