Carnaval de Ponce (Ponce Carnival) 2023
The southern Puerto Rican city of Ponce (pronounced PONE-say)
has been celebrating its annual carnival for 165 years, making it one of the
longest-celebrated carnivals in the Caribbean. The festivities are brought to
life by vejigantes, a local folk character that wears a colorful paper-mâché
mask and a bright jumpsuit. Since we have commissioned a couple of vejigante masks
from renowned mask maker Miguel Caraballo, we were eager to see the colorful masks
in use during a carnival parade!
The event spans six days right before Lent. The carnival
parades includes King Momo's appearance and the Carnival Queen's coronation, a
masquerade ball, and the Burial of the Sardine, a simulated funeral marking the
beginning of Lent.
We were there on Saturday night for the kids’ day and Queen’s Coronation activities, which included a family-friendly version of the main event. It was a delight! (But thank God we brought our ear plugs.) Enjoy!
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