Carnival in the capital was brought to a close with the Burial of the Sardine this Sunday, a spectacular event which sees the burning of a papier maché Sardine.
The Burial of the Sardine is the perfect example of carnival’s surreal, hilarious logic; a funeral in which a large, beautifully-painted papier maché fish is paraded through the streets, preceded by dancing and drumming groups and followed by hundreds of men and women dressed in widows’ mourning.
You may spot the sardine’s doctor, or the priest who administered the last rites, or young girls dressed as the angels who will escort it to heaven, all trying to keep straight faces as the parade progresses.
The widows wail and fan themselves, sometimes falling to the ground in grief. Other merrier widows openly toast the sardine’s death, and their inheritance, with champagne and furs. Finally Don Sardine arrives at Reducto beach, where he, and this years carnival in Arrecife, is given a solemn eulogy before being burnt on a huge bonfire.
We headed to the event and recorded some videos:
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