Dancing in the streets of Tenerife

You'll need a wig! Anticipating the next party, these were on sale at the last fiestas in Buenavista.There was an excellent article by Byron Evans in the Manchester Evening News last week, entitled Dancing in the streets of Tenerife, about carnaval, rightly noting its South American influences (and highlighting the vast difference between the north of the island and the "egg and chip" south.)

Evans congers up the whole carnaval atmosphere perfectly:

"Proud smiles lit up the faces of the hordes of onlookers. There were no barriers between participants and spectators. Security and police kept a low profile.

This was all about feeling part of the procession, enhancing the thrilling atmosphere. The sight of children, grannies, teenagers, mums and dads all going nuts together was totally infectious."

Video: Dancing in the street at Carnaval Tenerife 2008. Then there's Carnaval en la calle and these Carnaval 2008 Carrozas (mobile disco buses) will, together, give you just a taste of the atmosphere of carnaval in the streets.

Revealing how well-behaved it is too, is news that by Friday, Santa Cruz' carnaval "campaign" hospital had treated just 366 people.

Even after the end of the final, frenzied weekend, this the total had only risen to 479 patients, down from 552 last year, during the 10 days of carnaval in the street. Almost half of them (233), were treated for "intoxication" and a further 71 for "falling down in the public street" (presumably drunk) :-)

Another 52 were treated for "common ailments", 32 for "other reasons" and amazingly, only 18 for "intoxications by stupefying substances" (drugs).

And, in the absence of any other news reports, I think it's probably fairly safe to assume that the 69 "aggressions" were mostly minor skirmishes and much less trouble than you'd see in the average city center on a Saturday night.

This relative peacefulness, I attribute precisely to the low key police presence.

Curfews and prohibitions - that require a large police presence to enforce - lead to just the sort of tensions between party-goers and the authorities that have been known to end in riots in the British capital, but that so far, have been avoided in Tenerife, despite the large numbers who attend each year.

Likewise, Sarah Adams in Dress up and shake on down!, says:

"Tenerifans like to claim that Rio is about the samba schools, Venice is about culture and Santa Cruz is about the people."

That's about how I see it too. Carnaval in Tenerife is accessible to all, it's geared up for participation; a carnaval "by the people, for the people".

Labels: Carnaval 2008