We all know that carnival on Tenerife means madness, mayhem and over the top parades. But the carnivals that take place outside of Santa Cruz, Puerto de la Cruz, Los Gigantes and Los Cristianos rarely make it onto visitors” radar. And yet it’s at these where you can find some of the most unusual ways to celebrate carnival.
Each year GüÃmar produces one of the most stylish and sexy carnival posters on Tenerife and 2012 is no exception. The poster by Luis Marrero, titled The Transformation, illustrates one of the town’s main celebrations, Las Burras de GüÃmar.
Mysticism and GüÃmar, the home of the much debated pyramids, are no strangers. Neither is superstition or tales of witchcraft. So a carnival street event involving satanic dances, witches who transform themselves into donkeys to cause mischief and destroy farmers” crops and a full on battle between the forces of good and evil seems quite an appropriate way for the young people of the town to let their hair down and have a bit of fun.
Las Burras de GüÃmar has become one of the highlights of GüÃmar’s carnival, growing in popularity each year since the first witches took to the street in 1992.
The question in some people’s minds will be ‘do the witches actually ‘dress up’ like the one on the poster?’
You’ll have to go along to Plaza de San Pedro Apóstol de GüÃmar at 9pm on Friday 24th February to find out for yourself.
