PARTY ON! It’s Carnival Time

The party never seems to stop in Mallorca. After the Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastià festivities, up pops Carnival and another excuse to take to the streets and have some fun. In 2024, Easter falls early, and carnival is a week earlier than last year.

Practising Christians traditionally feast and have fun before Lent – the forty days of abstinence leading up to Easter. For many, carnival is yet another fiesta, with street parades, decorated floats, elaborate costumes, music, and general merriment. You don’t have to be taking part in the parade to dress up as a spectator.

Towns and villages across the island host carnival celebrations, also known as ‘els Darrers Dies’ (the last days) or ‘Sa Rua’.

It’s not quite Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, but Palma’s ‘Sa Rua’, is an unmissable, colourful, and sound-filled event – and the largest parade on the island. This year it’s on Sunday, February 11th from 17:00 h. Check with your local municipality for carnival dates where you are – although most should be either February 10th or 11th.

On the eve of Lent, carnival ends with an event known as the Burial of the Sardine, which is a parody of a funeral for a large figure of a sardine. The funeral represents a farewell to indulgences for the next forty days.

The streets are always lined with spectators for these events so it’s worth arriving early to secure a good spot for viewing. The route for the Palma parades is usually published in the local papers.