Carnival in Spain: Burning the Sardine

With it being carnival season around the world, I thought I would highlight our school's Carnival experience in Spain in 2011.  To give you a little background for any new readers, we lived in the suburb of Alcobendas, outside of Madrid, for just over a year. While there our kids attended a public Spanish school. 

Each day of the week leading up to a school parade, was a theme, similar to Spirit Week in the US. You can read about it here.

At the end of the parade the Entierro de la Sardina was performed.  The burial, or in this case, the burning of the sardine. The link explains extensively how it is celebrated around Madrid. The tradition varies around the country.

The kids were given 2 sardine scales and instructed to write something that they want to see disappear.  It could be a poor attitude, a bad habit, etc. The burning of the figure of a sardine symbolizes an act of cleansing. Burning of the old allows the growth of the new.

 Burning a figure at the end of riotous days of partying allows order to be restored in preparation for the observation of Lent.  Everything is put right by this one act at the end of it all.

We loved witnessing and joining in the celebration of Carnival.

Have you observed Carnival in Spain or somewhere else around the world?

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Each week Bonnie, Melanie and I feature a post from the previous link up.  I really enjoyed Carly's post, from Let us Wanderlust, on New Orleans.

My husband and I spent our honeymoon in New Orleans and remember these tricks pulled on the streets of New Orleans.
It's enjoyable to read about her adventures across America as an Australian expat.

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