Chronology

Eighteenth century

The party begins!

Carnival is a party that invades the streets of Badajoz every year with its costumes, choreography, murgas, troupes, choirs and artifacts. A celebration in which tradition, fun, mockery, irony and wit are mixed ...

Our carnival is the fruit of a long tradition, the oldest testimony of which can be found in the “Don Leonardo Hernández Tolosa News Book”.

1815

In search of our carnival identity

During the XNUMXth century, the Badajoz carnival was consolidated as a popular festival, in which the street carnival coexisted with the masked balls held in public and private rooms.

The streets of Badajoz are filled with joy, music, jokes and satirical and mocking songs starring the comparsas and the student women.

A carnival to help the military garrison of Badajoz

The crossing of letters between Mateo Delgado Moreno, Archbishop of Badajoz, and the Captain General of Extremadura, Domingo Mariano Traggia Uribarri, constitutes the second documentary reform on the Badajoz carnivals.

Among them, a notable controversy arises over the masked ball organized by the Captain General at the Casa Teatro, with which he sought to obtain financial resources to help the troops of the Badajoz garrison.

For fun and public relief

The Carnival of 1815 was finally celebrated at the Casa Teatro on January 26, 29 and 30 and on February 2, 5, 6 and 7, in accordance with the program announced in public squares.

The Badajoz carnival in the journalistic chronicles

The journalistic chronicles are the best source to know how the carnival was celebrated during the XIX century. Thanks to them we know where the masked balls were held, how carnival was lived in the street, what the costumes were like, the associated activities and, above all, the popular roots of our celebration.

1830

Carnival and bulls in the theater

During the carnivals there were other shows that enlivened and complemented the party, theater performances, circus shows and even bull fighting, no less than in the city's own theater, to the scandal of the chronicler.

1866

Dances to bewitch, insinuate and lose innocence

During carnivals, insinuation coexisted with being seen and innocence with subtle mischief. The girls, the "jamonas" and the "birds" were seduced and carried away by Don Carnal, as the chronicler relates about the dance held at the Casino during the carnivals of 1866.

1885

The costumes

he "Diario de Badajoz" offers us a testimony of the type of costumes used in the carnival of 1885.

1889

Chronicle of a decline

The chronicle of the carnival of 1889 published by the "Diario de Badajoz" offers us a document of great value that summarizes what the carnival was like in the last third of the XNUMXth century, even pointing to a certain decadence and boredom for repeating the same program every year .

The female students

The murgas are one of the pillars of our carnival. One of the first references to them is found in the "Diario de Badajoz" of February 28, 1892, which mentions a group made up of cheerful young people. In 1896 there were already up to 15 female students who animated the Badajo streets singing and playing their instruments.

1893

Badajoz ... the most fun town!

While some chronicles speak of decadence, others emphasize the joyful and festive character of the town of Badajoz, which celebrates carnivals despite hunger and lack of work.

Twentieth Century

Years of decline and prohibitions

In the first third of the 1921th century, the carnival experienced a certain decline, perhaps due to the constant prohibitions it suffered: after the suppressions of 1923, 1934 and 3, Franco banned the festival by Decree of February 1937, XNUMX.

1910

The first carnival contest

In 1910 the first public carnival contest was organized. The prizes, awarded by a business in the city, were awarded to the most original mask and most appropriately dressed, to the carriage with the best decoration and to the lady or gentleman who had thrown the most confetti.

Carnival resists

During the XNUMXs, the Badajoz carnival seems to herald its end. Although Badajoz continue to go out into the streets, they do so in fewer numbers and without a mask, since they were prohibited.

But the party resists. With the arrival of the new governor of the city, José Maestre de Medievela, the carnival received a new impetus. He organized parades of floats, and stood out for his support and participation in such an emblematic party for Badajoz.

1940

Is the party over?

During the long years of Franco's prohibition, carnival did not disappear completely: Badajoz people celebrated small parties in their homes with some improvised disguise.

1980

The new carnival

Carnival, a sign of identity in Badajoz

After the parenthesis that the Franco dictatorship meant, carnival resurfaced in 1980. During this decade, the festival was consolidated until today it becomes one of the most participatory and most important in Spain.

This is carnival, gentlemen!

The “new carnival” owes much to a group of enterprising and dynamic people, bohemians and artists, led by José Manuel Villafaina. He, his people from the Dramatic Center and a group of poets, painters and students, spontaneously went out through the streets of Badajoz, in February 1980.

Shouting "This is carnival, gentlemen!", They exhibited their costumes and theatrical masks in the Plaza de España, amid the rejoicing of the public and the astonishment of the municipal guards.

José Manuel Villafaina, mayor of the City Council, got the Permanent Commission to approve his carnival proposal on March 14.

A Citizen Commission organized around José María Pagador, the brothers Rodríguez Arbazagoitia, Luis Poblador, Ángel Luis López, Manuel Mayorga and Pedro Rubio, among others, prepares the 1981 carnival.

1981

The party is back!

The carnivals of these years are characterized by spontaneity, improvisation, salt shaker and mischief. The costumes came out of the trunks of the grandmothers and the "doblaos." The Badajoz wore their imagination: gowns, skirts, shawls, scarves, shawls, capes, shawls, nightgowns, coats or raincoats.

The coup d'état of February 23 prevented the start of the carnival, which was finally held on March 7 and 8.

1982

The public contest of posters announcing the party is established and the López de Ayala Theater hosts the contest of murgas.

1983

Children's parades and contests are organized. The Carnival of San Roque and the "Burial of the Sardine" are inaugurated.

1984

The splendor

The carnival is consolidated from all points of view: the budget increases, the number of participants, comparsas and murgas. The festivities are extended, incorporating Friday into the festive program.

The Badajoz carnival gains notoriety in Spain and Portugal, thanks to a very important promotional campaign carried out through the national press, television and radio. Gomaespuma, Tip y Coll, Mari Carmen and her dolls, among others, act as town criers.

Las Candelas and the Marimanta

An important novelty is the celebration of the Candelas de Santa Marina with its popular tamborada and the burning of the Marimanta. A sound and light show that has
turned into a prelude to carnival.

Hey, Badajoz, Badajoz, Badajoz!

The troupes with their drums, bass drums, boxes, timpani, whistles, meet on Shrove Tuesday in the Plaza de Santa María de la Cabeza. The sound of their drums is accompanied by the popular Badajoz song Eo, Badajoz, Badajoz, Badajoz!

1985

Carnival Tuesday is declared a public holiday.

1988

The Federation of Local Associations of the Pacense Carnival (FALCAP) is born, one of the fundamental pillars of the carnival.

1990

The most crowded parade of those held so far took place, with 15 official groups and countless anonymous groups, gangs and individuals.

1992 - 1999

The great parade on Sunday and its prelude, the children's parade, is strengthened. The comparsas grow in number and in components, The costumes dazzle for their originality, splendor, industriousness and ingenuity. The streets are filled with banners, which are the insignia that precede and identify the carnival groups.

The Silver Mask

In 1995 FALCAP held, for the first time, the “Silver Mask” gala. A moment full of rejoicing and happiness in which the delivery of different prizes manages to promote and encourage carnival participation.

The "Carnabús"

The Badajoz City Council chartered the “carnabús” which, loaded with costumes, photographs, promotional items, etc., travels through different parts of the Community and Portugal.

1996

Festival of regional tourist interest

The carnival is considered a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest.

1997

The Badajoz carnivals go beyond the national scope with the celebration of the First Elvas-Badajoz Cross-Border Carnival.

2000 - 2007

The carnival of the twenty-first century

The years go by and as the XNUMXst century enters, the illusion of recovering the best of a millenary festival, as old as human history itself, grows. But every year the people of Badajo who participate and enjoy it make it new, fresh and increasingly enveloping.

Our people, the essence of carnival

The Badajoz carnival represents the most ingrained of the group conscience. Its extraordinary social implantation is explained by the solidarity and the impulse that arises from the bosom of the groups, families and friends, in the face of the uniqueness of the masks and the individual by free.

Everyone to the carnival!

Children, women, men of all ages participate in a tradition that has made history ... The little ones take up the flag of the older ones. Live and enjoy our carnival!

2005

The Carnabús carried out a promotional tour that between January 11 and 25 visited Madrid, Salamanca, Cáceres, Mérida, Almendralejo, Seville and various Portuguese cities.

2007

In February the Badajoz City Council creates the carnival brand and the Badajoz Carnival Museum is inaugurated.

2011

National Tourist Interest

The Badajoz carnival receives is declared a festival of National Tourist Interest

2015

Creation of the I Contest of Children and Youth Murgas

2018

Transfer of La Tamborada to the IFEBA venue

2019

Creation of the Don Carnal Catwalk in Puerta de Palmas