Barcelona Carnival 2025 - Carnestoltes

Carnaval de Barcelona 2025

Carnival dates: 
27th February to 5th March 2025

Carnival location: 
Various venues Map carnaval parades Barcelona 2025

Hashtags: 
#carnavalbcn #carnestoltes

Program
Download PDF program

Information:
2025 Barcelona Carnival. 'A Carnestoltes, bones voltes' - 'In Carnival, good times!'  The Barcelona Carnival is a week long programme of events and processions in all neighbourhoods of Barcelona in February and March 2025.  It starts with the arrival of the Carnival royalty - in 2025 on Thursday, February 27th - with a parade along the streets of Sants district of Barcelona- and ends on Ash Wednesday, when the "carnival sardine" is buried. The first documented history of Barcelona's carnival dates back to 1333 when a regulation from the Barcelona government prohibited the throwing of oranges and regulated the use of masks. 

Pictures Barcelona Carnival

What is carnival?

The general idea of a carnival is to eat, drink, dance and generally party during carnaval week in preparation for the fasting period of Lent, which begins when the carnaval ends. To find the Carnival period on the calendar, look for the first full moon after the spring equinox. The Sunday immediately after the spring equinox is Easter Sunday and, the Sunday before Easter Sunday is Palm Sunday. It is from Palm Sunday that we count back 40 days to find Ash Wednesday, the day on which the traditional burial of the sardine is celebrated.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and the last day of Carnival. Ash Wednesday is a sad day for carnival lovers. Their Majesties, the King and Queen of Carnival have died and now Lent reigns for 40 days. Neighbors gather in various neighborhoods of Barcelona  to make "funeral" processions, howling and crying for the death of their beloved leaders with the burial of the sardine. After the sardine interment, it is traditional to have a community meal with lots of sardines! The Thursday before Ash Wednesday is the traditional start of Carnival week, or Shrove Tuesday. Carnaval is a festival which allows you to hide behind your mask and be someone else for a while allowing you to break the rules a little and generally let yourself go. 

In Barcelona the public carnival activities are mostly for families and children, although that said, there are many parties at nightclubs for adults and many costume balls. Carnival is called 'carnestoltes' in the Catalan language and 'carnaval' in Spanish. The carnaval parades are mostly on Saturday, March 1st 2025.
In Spain the carnaval starts on 'Fat Thursday', because this is the day when you start to stuff yourself during carnaval week. Barcelona food markets celebrate Fat Thursday with many food events and competitions all over Barcelona. The main character of the Spanish carnevals is King Carnival - called 'Rei Carnestoltes' in Catalan language and 'Rey Carnaval' in Spanish language.

The symbolic role of the Carnival King is to carry all the sins of power, and take responsibility for all the bad things that occurred throughout the year. On the last day of Carnival, the carnival king’s last will and testament is read in public. Then the king is condemned and burnt, which is the signal to start the feast. A week later the sad death of the King Carnival marks the end of the carnival with funeral corteges complete with grieving widows in black and other events in his honour all over the city.

Barcelona's main carnaval events in the city center take inspiration from the ancient carnavals from previous centuries dating back to the 14th century. Barcelona has around 100 local events and over 30 local carnaval parades in all districts of Barcelona including the neighbourhoods of the old city Ciutat Vella.

See major events on the Barcelona Carnival website or search on Social Media for Barcelona carnival information using the hashtags: #carnavalbcn #carnestoltes

For the adults we also recommend the Carnival parade nights at Sitges, a small resort town to the south of Barcelona and easily acessible by train from Barcelona. The Sitges carnaval usually takes place around the same time and has more of a street party theme for adults. Sitges, which is a popular seaside resort town just south of Barcelona, where the Sitges Carnival is celebrated on the same days as Barcelona. The Sitges carnaval is famous for its flamboyant parades, both thanks to a fantastic annual effort by Sitges residents and by the vibrant and vivacious gay community of Sitges.

Related pages:

Pictures Barcelona Carnival
Barcelona costume shops
Web food markets 
Civic centers Barcelona
Sitges carnaval website
Barcelona Events 

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