May 2, 2013

La Ceiba Gran Carnaval is May 25, 2013

La Ceiba Gran Carnival
La Ceiba Gran Carnival
Image: La Prensa, Honduras

Thanks to a reader who asked the Municipal Tourism folks, I found out that my guess was right. The final big celebration and parade will be on Saturday, May 25, 2013.

I emailed a few days ago to ask for a schedule of events during the two weeks leading up to parade day. If I'm able to get it, I'll report it here. My guess is that it hasn't been finalized yet.

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I ran across this article written shortly after last year's carnival, A 40 años del Carnaval de La Ceiba, by Guillermo Anderson, a singer, songwriter, and musician, one of Honduras' most famous. He believes that the carnival has lost its personality and identity. As a Ceibeño, he misses the focus on the Garífuna music and punta dance. He seems particularly bothered by the political use of the carnival and thinks that political floats in the parade should be prohibited and some esthetic standards should be required for all floats. With this being an election year, I'm sure we'll see lots of politicians this year. His article is in Spanish but translates reasonably well using Google Translate if you don't read Spanish.

If you aren't familiar with Guillermo Anderson's music, you can preview his Costa y Calor selections here and check out all of his CDs here.