The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been celebrated since the time of the earliest European settlement, and possibly earlier. In 1605 Gaspar Luis Hidalgo alluded to the habit of
reversing the sexes in dress. Early written references date from the end of the 18th century, in the writings of visitors. The journal of Lope Antonio de la Guerra Peña in 1778 includes a dance held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where he then talked about
comparsas (bands playing
conga music). In 1783, the Corregidor reported the use of
masks "being banned by royal instructions". In practice the ban was not carried out, and a carnival feature was the mixing of the masked upper class with the common people.
Governmental ban During the dictatorships of
Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1935), and
General Franco (1940–1960), the Carnival was known as "Winter holiday" as a ruse to circumvent the ban that had been enacted against it. Despite the ban, the festival continued to take place in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and
Cádiz, Spain. In 1954 with
Los Bigotudos (today known as
Afilarmónica NIFU-NiFá) performed the first
murga (musical theater).
Promotional posters Since 1962, a poster for each year of the Carnival has been created. Artists such as John Galarza, Gurrea,
Javier Mariscal, Dokoupil,
César Manrique, Cuixart,
Pedro González, Fierro, Paco Martinez, Mel Ramos, Enrique Gonzalez, Maribel Nazca, Elena Lecuona and many others have contributed to their designs. For the 2009 Carnival, it was proposed that an open competition take place for participants to design the official poster for that year.
Traditional events The main venues for Carnival competitions and the election of the Queen have been the
Teatro Guimerá (until 1985) and the Plaza de Toros (1986–1988) Its central circular stage was decorated with a silver crown in 1986–1987 and a golden crown in 1988. Additional venues have included the Plaza de España in 2005, the
Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife and the Esplanade of Parks in 2008. Since the construction of the
Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife, additional Carnival venues have varied. In recent years tickets for several events (especially the
Final Murgas Adultas Contest and the Gala of the Queen) have sold out completely (over 20,000 seats) between 15 and 60 minutes after tickets go on sale. The Gala of the Queen, with a stage spectacle that crowns the first lady of the Carnival and groups awarded for their efforts, is broadcast each year by a national network for the entire country and broadcast via satellite to all continents. Networks covering the event include RTVE, Televisión Canaria, Antena 3 Televisión, Canal +, Galavisión and Telecinco.
Capital of Carnival In May 2000, the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife became the Carnival Capital of the World and headquarters of the 20th Convention of the Federation of European Carnival Cities (FECC). The convention, held on the island of
Gran Canaria, featured appearances by Carnival performers and concluded with performers from the
Carnival of Las Palmas.
Themes •
1987 – Rome: This was the first year that the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, was themed. For this, the perimeter of the Plaza de España was surrounded by an
Ionic-style paired colonnade, giving the appearance of a circular Roman temple. The portal of the lintel of each pair of columns, was adorned by two Atlantic mackerel (
chicharros) crowned with laurels. This was the year the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife entered the
Guinness Book of World Records. •
1988 – Wild World: The colonnade of the previous year was recycled, painted in salmon and topped with white palm leaves made from fiberglass, giving the appearance of palm trees. Every two or three palms were on platforms which were reproductions of previous carnival Queen costumes in white fiberglass. A model of King Kong stood on a pedestal •
1989 – Millennial Egypt: The
Plaza de España replaced the
Plaza de Toros as the main stage. It was decorated with two large sphinxes and an Egyptian-style palace gate. •
1990 – Story World: The scene at the Plaza de España was that of a story in two parts. One story was "happy" (with a smiley-faced house) and the other "dark", with a tree whose branches were shaped like hands in a tribute to the film
Poltergeist. •
1991 – Space: The tower of the Plaza de España was integrated into the scenery, transforming it into a giant telecommunications antenna dominated by metal, neon and laser lights. •
1992 – Cinema: The stage of the Plaza de España evoked a Western movie set. •
1993 – Circus: The stage was extended to almost half the surface of the square. This was the first year that
Antena 3 Television broadcast the Queen Gala nationally and internationally (on Antena 3 Internacional); previously, it had been broadcast by RTVE, TVE1 and La2 TVE Internacional. •
1994 – Atlántida: The stage was highlighted with oceanic colors. The gala was presented by journalist Willy García. The queen that year was Maria Candelaria Rodriguez, who wore "Diva" (by Marcos Marrero) for Casinos de Tenerife. •
1995 – The Thousand and One Nights: Scenes from the Arabian story adorned the stage of the Plaza de España, inspired by the film
Aladdin. •
1996 – Mexico: The main stage of the Carnival moved to the newly opened
Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife. The theatrical set evokes a neighborhood in Mexico, and the characters were stereotypical negative portrayals of Mexicans as "drunk, lazy and violent". The Mexican Consul was in attendance, and it was broadcast in America by
Galavision and in Spain by Telecinco. The show nearly created a diplomatic conflict;
Televisa closed its office in Tenerife, which was owned by
Canal 7 del Atlántico (
ECO Noticias). Construction errors on the set required help for the queen candidates to cross the stage. Its highlight was a performance by
Enrique Iglesias. •
1997 – Prehistory: The set was simple: a rocky mountain made of papier-mâché in the center of the
Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife. •
1998 – The Middle Ages: The set of that year was a medieval castle with flags, coats of arms and colored conical roofs. •
1999 – Comic World: This marked a return to the
Plaza de España, with a set filled with superheroes. Highlights were Captain America (known as
"Super Chicha") and a giant bust of Lara Croft. •
2000 – Pirates: A pirate galleon was the centerpiece, surrounded by palm trees, islands, beaches and waves. •
2001 – Space Odyssey: A spaceship was the main feature at the
Plaza de España. •
2002 – The Roaring 20s: The scene of the
Plaza de España was decorated with motifs reminiscent of the first two decades of the 20th century. The
Eiffel Tower was featured on stage, with the
Statue of Liberty and the
Golden Gate Bridge behind the Eiffel Tower. •
2003 – The Far East (China): The center of the
Plaza de España was occupied by a Chinese temple in red. A papier-mâché sculpture of the Buddha was withdrawn after protests by the Buddhist community of Tenerife, who objected to a religious figure being used frivolously. The main streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife were decorated red and gold, with Chinese lanterns. •
2004 – Celia Cruz: The stage at the
Plaza de España was decorated as a Cuban neighborhood, with a neon sign reading "Celia Cruz" in blue. •
2005 – Hollywood Musicals: The stage of the Spanish Steps was inspired by Hollywood black-and-white musicals. •
2006 – Tribes: The stage was again moved to the
Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife. Two sets (one primary and one secondary) were planned, joined by a footbridge. The decoration of both was based on graffiti and Web icons. It was originally intended to target "urban tribes" (punks and hippies) but was given a general theme of "tribes", which proved confusing. •
2007 – Fashion: Known as the "Bitter Carnival" due to the negative role acquired by the director of that year's Gala Election of the Queen, Rafael Amargo (
amargo in Spanish means "bitter") and the show itself. •
2008 – Magic: The stage was moved to the parking lot of the
Parque Marítimo César Manrique. The decor was inspired by the struggle between good and evil (white magic and black magic), incorporating motifs from
The NeverEnding Story,
The Lord of the Rings and
Harry Potter. •
2009 – Horror Films: This was known as "the anti-crisis Carnival". The main stage at the
Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife was flat, without any carvings or models. The decoration was large-format canvases printed with motifs from an early influence of
Ed Wood,
Nosferatu. The
satanic hymn "
Ave Satani" (of the horror movie
The Omen) was heard several times at the introduction to the gala. •
2010 – Tenerife, Carnival History: At first the theme was "History of Mankind"; after a policy change in the city, it was changed to "Tenerife, story of a carnival". •
2011 – Enrique González and Canary murgas: This year honored Don Enrique González, the "father of street musicians", founder of several acts of the carnival. The Murgas final was held for the first time in
Heliodoro Rodriguez López Stadium, with an attendance of 20,000. •
2012 – Flower Power: The stage was filled with hippies symbols and legends as "do not worry be hippy", volume figures, and drawings of characters with clothing
hippies. He also decorated the stage a number of city buildings painted with psychedelic style. At the gala queen issues highlighted as the man on the Moon, the
Vietnam War, student protests, the struggle for the protection of nature and the rise of
New Age. There was a great tribute to bands and singers of the 60 among which were
The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones among others. •
2013 – Bollywood: The India: First time for the theme of Carnival to be chosen by internet voters. The stage was based on those used in the
Eurovision Song Contest, with a large
LED screen, the largest in Europe. The Carnival Queen was chosen by choreographer and
Bollywood actor Sunny Singh (born in
Bombay), and the president of the jury was the consul of India in Canary Islands, Boagwandas Gope Mahtani. •
2014 – The Cartoons: This was the first year that the placard of the carnival was chosen by the citizens. However, there was controversy about various problems with the voting process. The voting results were cancelled and the organizers of the contest decided who the winner would be. The stage was once again a LED screen, imported this time from Belgium and featuring a surround effect. A second screen was also incorporated. During the gala it showed various cartoon characters including:
Cinderella,
The Little Mermaid, the
Pink Panther,
Inspector Gadget,
Barbie,
Tadeo Jones,
The Lion King and
Monster High. They also showed characters from
Warner Bros and
Hanna Barbera, as
Sylvester,
Tweety and
Scooby-Doo. was always a great promoter of the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In 2004 was declared by the city as
"Queen of Honor of Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife". •
2015 – The Future: Nearly 7,000 attendees enjoyed an overture that recreated the planet Earth in the future, featuring robots, dancers, stilt walkers and galactic beings from other planets. Several trapeze flying over the fairgrounds in Tenerife and a giant human figure moved among the spectators up to the stage, the style of
La Fura dels Baus. All wrapped by light and images projected the large LED screen more than 50 meters wide that surrounded the stage. The collaborative program of
Antena 3 "
El Hormiguero"
Anna Simon, was a presenter at the event. She was accompanied by two canaries communicators, Ivan Bonales and Manuel Artiles. One of the most exciting moments of the Gala was when revived on stage the Guinness record who fought in the Plaza de España in 1987. That year more than 200,000 people danced to salsa queen
Celia Cruz. The tables were filled with dancers from different Carnival parades and voices six singers did a review of the great successes of the Cuban artist. •
2016 – The Roaring 80s: This time the LED screen is removed and the traditional Carnival decorated recovers, with
ochenteros recover reasons: a pseudo reproduction of a "
Game Boy"; giant tape "cassette"; Play a stuffed Mobile honoring
Freddie Mercury... •
2017 – Caribbean: The Gala of Election of the Queen was directed (for second consecutive year), by Enrique Camacho, and also repeated like master of ceremonies the singer
Jadel, this time accompanied by the artist
Roko. More than 5,000 spectators head to the gala at the Recinto Ferial de Tenerife, an event for which just a week before the tickets sold out. The Gala was broadcast live by the
Televisión Canaria and
Televisión Española, through
La 2 de TVE and
TVE International, being the year (until then) in which this party has had more international media repercussions. The Gala staged a "trip" in a cruise through the
Caribbean, where there was a tribute to the carnival of different Caribbean countries such as
Puerto Rico,
Cuba,
Jamaica,
Bahamas, etc. Also during the Gala was the homage to Antonio Messeguer, Que He said goodbye to the character he gave life to during the carnival of the last decades,
Fidel Castro, with a great ovation of all the spectators. In addition to the year 2017, it was recorded as the year of the inauguration of the
Carnival House of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a museum dedicated to the history of this emblematic festival. •
2018 – The Fantasy: For the first time in the history of Carnival, three women acted as masters of ceremony at the Queen's gala:
Laura Afonso, from
Canarias Radio;
Eloísa González, of
Televisión Canaria, and
Berta Collado, which has been linked to
Antena 3,
Cuatro and
La Sexta. He also had the stellar performance of
Olga Tañón. The stage is the largest of those built in the Tenerife Fairground with its more than 2,100 square meters. The gala began with the projection on the screens of a child who had found a book in an enchanted forest and raised it from among the chairs of the Fairgrounds to the Carnival stage. It was a story with
fairies, enchanted trees and
unicorns... The overture, due to the quality of the projections, enhanced the stage, with a cascade that set itself on fire, a great virtual
dragon and others were projected on the stage. One of the most emotional moments of the night came when the young Saida Prieto could fulfill her dream of returning to parade as a candidate at the gala of the election of the queen, something that in 2013 could not perform, because minutes before climbing to the scenario a fateful accident caused the girl and her suit to end in flames. The humorous note of the gala was given by the Abubukaka group. During this year a record was registered, with a participation of more than one million people, 12 million citizens who visited the official profiles of the party on social networks. Also, 50 million viewers saw at some point the retransmits of the main events of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival through the different televisions. •
2019 – The marine depths: The main stage of the carnival this time is chaired by a six meter tall bust of
Poseidon, the
Greek god of the sea. This sculpture is made by
Valencian Falles masters and was transferred to the island of
Tenerife from
Valencia by sea along with other sets that make up the stage as a great ship wrecked ten meters long and six meters high. In addition, 140 corals were molded with striking colors, orange, green and pink. Several films were also inspired in the sets, among which are
Finding Nemo. In total, the stage measures 15 meters and with giant screens that simulate the bottom of the sea with fish. The Queen's Election Gala was directed one more year by Enrique Camacho. The introduction of the same allowed the public to delve into the deep sea, where they waited, a host of aquatic animals. One of the most emotional moments of the night took place when the audience also stood up to cheer and support a candidate who, while marching, fell to the ground and, before the weight of her suit, could not get up by herself. The presenter of the gala was the journalist
Laura Afonso, who throughout the event was accompanied by other presenters, such as the last three queens of the carnival,
Maria Rozman,
Elvis Sanfiel or
K-Narias. Guest artists were
Carlos Baute and
Marta Sánchez. The gala was broadcast live on
Televisión Española and on the International Channel, as well as on
Televisión Canaria. During the celebration of the Carnival by day the record reached in 1987 with
Celia Cruz was surpassed, because in 2019 and according to data of the local Police more than 400,000 people danced to the rhythm of
Juan Luis Guerra and with Celia Cruz they had been 250,000. Given this unexpected fact and lack of a notary, the record could not be included in the
Guinness Book of Records. •
2020 – The 1950s: Known as "El Carnaval de La Calima", due to the dust in suspension from the
Sahara desert that covered the entire Canary archipelago during the first days of the carnival celebration in the street. The queen's gala featured performances by
Paulina Rubio and
Soraya Arnelas. As a novelty, the queen candidates were able to access the stage twice at the end of each first round of the participants. The gala was directed by designers Marcos Marrero and María Díaz. In the final moment, only eight queen candidates took the stage, because despite the large dimensions of the stage, it fell short to accommodate all the candidates at the same time. During the gala, which started with an overture based on the popular song "Santa Cruz en Carnaval", 16 candidates paraded through a stage that, like every year, also received the Queen of the Venezuelan Canarian Home. The gala featured singer Soraya Arnelas, who in addition to singing acted as master of ceremonies with Alexis Hernández and Pedro Rodríguez. •
2021 – Carnivals of the World: Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival is not celebrated this year in person. Some acts and documentaries related to the carnival are broadcast virtually. There was also no new Carnival Queen but there was a guardian of the scepter who will be in charge of guarding it until the election of the Carnival Queen can be celebrated again. The applicants will be young people, girls and adults who have already been proclaimed queens in years past. This gala had the stellar participation of the Mexican singer
Carlos Rivera. The Carnival House hosted an exhibition entitled "
Traditional Carnivals in the Canary Islands" with representations of Los Toros de Tao and Tiagua, Los Diabletes of Teguise, Los Buches of Arrecife (all of them from
Lanzarote), Los Carneros de Tigaday in
El Hierro, Achipencos in
Fuerteventura or Los Empolvados, like Los Indianos of
La Palma, among others. •
2022 – Science fiction: For the first time in history, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival was held in summer, in the month of June. This was due to a decision by the City Council to be able to celebrate it as in pre-covid times, since in the month of February of that year the health indicators discouraged a street carnival. The Queen's Gala featured the stellar performance of the singer
Chanel Terrero, this being her first performance after her participation in May of that year in the
Eurovision Song Contest representing Spain. Artists such as
Anuel AA,
Myke Towers,
Nicky Jam and
Jhay Cortez also performed. As in previous years, both the Grand Gala of the Queen and the Rhythm and Harmony Contest were broadcast live on
Televisión Canaria and through
La 2 of
Televisión Española for all of Spain and the world. Ruth González was elected Queen of the Carnival succeeding Sara Cruz, who was the Queen of 2020 and has had the longest reign of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival. During the parade, one of the carnival queen candidates was unable to access the stage's turntable because her costume exceeded the weight limit. There was also a tribute to the victims of the
volcanic eruption of La Palma in 2021 during the Gala, with some reporters from La Palma and other islands from both Televisión Canaria and Televisión Española in the Canary Islands participating as presenters of the queen candidates. There was also a new voting system where the public could participate in the election with SMS messaging. •
2023 – New York, the city that never sleeps: The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Fairgrounds once again hosted a gala in which
Carlos Rivera was once again the star of the night. The opening of the gala was planned as a trip to
New York for three hours with more than 3,000 members of groups as fellow passengers. The set design was based on the city's skyline, with emblematic skyscrapers such as the
Empire State Building, the
Chrysler Building and
One World Trade Center. On one side of the stage there was also a gigantic
Statue of Liberty. During the gala, the Latin culture of New York was honored by waving the flags of countries such as Mexico, Puerto Rico or Cuba together with the
flag of Tenerife itself. They highlighted urban dances, tap dancing and a play of lights in a musical overture with a strong visual and sound impact. It was one of the most attended galas in recent years. The party as a whole brought together more than a million people between all the days of celebration, tens of thousands of attendees came from other islands and many others from other parts of Spain and the world, being one of the most massive editions of the last years. •
2024 – The Television: The gala was a nostalgic reminder of the great musical hits on television from the 1990s. It began as a musical journey, by comedian Aaron Gómez, who immersed attendees in classic television melodies, such as ''I'll be there for you
, from the popular series Friends, and Hay que venir al sur, by Raffaella Carrà. The historical tour transcended with a clear ovation from the public, which in turn was mixed with a rapping by Gómez that made visible the classic Carnival nights, with early morning meetings in Plaza España and the classic smell of roast potatoes. The gala was also a tribute to Broadway and Madrid musicals, and they also recalled the Latin splendor, with a historical nod to artists like Celia Cruz. Later, Latin rhythms by Tony Tun Tun and a performance by Mónica Naranjo, who delighted the audience with her classic Sobreviviré'', played. The stage, in pink and green tones, featured a figure of
King Kong with a
chicharro in his hand, climbing the Cross of the Monument to the Fallen in the Plaza de España in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, while another figure, this one of the carnival hero
Super Chicha tries to take him down. •
2025 – Secrets of Africa: This year, the opening of the gala was particularly criticised due to discordant and asynchronous elements. Televisión Canaria at a regional level and La 2 of Televisión Española at a national level were the two television channels in charge of broadcasting an event that was also broadcast by the International Channel. The gala was directed by Jep Meléndez and held at the Fairgrounds, and was completely full with the 7,000 spectators expected. The presenters of the gala,
Lara Álvarez and Alexis Hernández, led a gala full of references to the African continent with the utmost respect for its culture. On Monday, March 3, a brawl occurred in which a resident of
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria died, which is why the events of that day were suspended due to weather conditions. This event has caused a great stir at a local and regional level, generating unrest, rejection and criticism of what happened. •
2026 – Latin rhythms: The gala's opening was a tribute to the culture and music of Latin American countries. The gala, once again directed by Daniel Pages, was held at the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Fairgrounds, which was packed to capacity with 1,700 people. Carla Castro Castellano, with her "Icónica" costume, was chosen as the new Carnival Queen. The gala was broadcast again by the main regional television channels throughout Spain and abroad.
Noise complaint In January 2006 a group of neighbors in Santa Cruz de Tenerife filed a complaint with the Board of Administrative Disputes, supported by eight community buildings and ten residents of the area known as the "ring" (the middle of the festivities). They asked for suspension of the Acts of Carnival in the city center. Several volunteer groups decided in the lawsuit to seek damages. The City Council awarded at least 180 million euros to cover collateral damage. Finally, according to the ruling "the generic request for suspension of the carnival is in no way excessive and could be subject to a full assessment. It is obvious that the carnival is composed of a plurality of events, the adequacy of social discomfort and noise both have separate ratings according to the social reality of the time that the rules must be applied for, as the public prosecutor warns, not all such actions have the same capacity to undermine fundamental rights and therefore that in no way justifies the request for suspension of Carnival because of the violation of fundamental rights." The order added that the neighbors broke the principle of good faith by failing to notify the Town Hall before the Carnival and submit a comprehensive plan, leaving the door open to further demands. That year a storm also struck Tenerife, delaying Carnival plans. This decision was appealed by the neighbors before the Board of Administrative Disputes Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Canarias (TSJC), which resolved the violation of fundamental rights by the Carnival of 2006 and 2007. In the legal basis of the fifth sentence, suspending the Carnival was not considered appropriate. However, the TSJC said "in no case" noise at night could exceed 55 decibels and that the city should take the necessary steps to control it while moving (if necessary) "the evening activities to residential areas". On Thursday, 8 February 2007, a judge of the Administrative Dispute No. 1 in the capital suspended night dances held in the center, as they violated the fundamental rights of neighbors. On Monday, 12 February 2007, after negotiation with both parties, the court declared inadmissible the suspension of acts of Carnival in the streets. The reason was that this was already resolved for 2007 by the 2006 ruling of the Chamber for Contentious Administrative Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Canarias.
2007 Holiday Act On 14 February 2007 the Parliament of the Canary Islands, in an extraordinary meeting, unanimously approved a new law lifting environmental-noise regulations during certain dates at the discretion of municipalities. == Daily events ==