Celebrating Carnaval in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Carnival. That party that happens before Lent every year, with places like Rio de Janeiro or maybe Venice coming to mind. Images of lithe, bronzed women in sparkly costumes and huge feathered headdresses or intricate masks and elaborate gowns and suits.

But the truth is that Carnival is celebrated across the Caribbean, and in a number of places around the world. While New Orleans’s Mardi Gras is perhaps the most widely known version in the United States, Ponce, Puerto Rico’s second largest city, is also known for its Carnaval, known as Carnaval Ponceño.

Background on Carnaval in Ponce

Ponce’s celebration is an annual one that begins each year a week before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent or the 40 days before Easter. Christians, Catholics in particular, observe Lent by fasting, prayer, repenting and atoning. These Carnival celebrations are seen as a last chance for excess before the somber and subdued Lenten period.

While there are no official documents that indicate when the Carnaval de Ponce began, there are accounts of a celebration in 1858, which included a masked dance that was started by José de la Guardia, a Spanish man. The masquerade continued each year and was officially added as a parade in the 1950s.

Vejigantes: a Ponceño Carnaval Tradition

One week before Ash Wednesday, Carnaval Ponceño kicks off with the Vejigantes‘ Party. The vejigantes have their origins in folklore, and started off as representations of the Moors who were defeated by St. James in the 12th century.

They have since evolved in the depictions of demons, meant to scare people back to church and have incorporated the African and Taíno influences. Their costumes include masks and lots of fabric around the back and arms that is meant to simulate wings, similar to a bat. They carry around what were traditionally inflated animal bladders, but according to one vejigante are papier-mâché now, which are used to playfully bop attendees of the celebration.

Weeklong Celebration in Ponce

The week’s celebration continues on Thursday with King Momo’s Entrance Parade. Each Carnival around the world has a King Momo, who is traditionally a tall, fat man in flamboyant and colorful clothing. It seems that in Ponce, King Momo is represented by a bigheaded doll.

On Friday and Saturday the Child Queen and Adult Queen are crowned, respectively. The queens ride on floats in the parade on Sunday and sit on the stage during the musical performances during Monday’s Ball Dance in the main plaza.

Finally, on Tuesday, there is the ceremonial Burial of the Sardine. It’s not an actual fish that is honored, but rather a dummy is placed in a coffin, paraded around and at the end of the celebration, the coffin and dummy are burned, which symbolizes the burning of the sins and wrongdoings of the past. This is a symbolic way of letting all of the excesses that have been celebrated and enjoyed for the past week go and to officially begin the somber and repentant period of Lent, when the costumes are put away until the next year.