Paraguay is a heavily Catholic country with a population that loves to party. This combination of traits is on display early in the year with the celebration of carnaval. What is carnaval? In simplest terms, carnaval is a blow out enabling revelers to binge on sinning before toning it down during the forty days of Lent leading up to Holy Week. Large carnavals take place throughout the world, the carnavals of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil being one of the most internationally known. In the United States carnaval takes the form of New Orleans´Mardi Gras. Although this is a tradition that has it’s roots in Catholic culture, carnaval is more about partying than anything else.

In the case of Paraguay the sins of carnaval are mostly of the beer drinking, dancing, and ooggling of semi-naked girls variety. The largest carnaval celebrations take place in http://www.carnaval.com.py Encarnacion where an entire section of city blocks is set up as the parade route, known as the “sambódromo.” This name comes from the brazilian samba music that accompanies the parade, usually played by live bands and marching drumlines. Over the course of several weekends the bleachers of the sambódromo are filled with party-goers cheering, dancing, and, of course, drinking, while groups of drumlines, themed floats, and costumed women representing different clubs or neighborhoods dance by to the samba beat. Groups compete for popularity with the crowds and a chance at winning the grand prize at the end of carnaval season. Playing on escalating soccer fever, among this year´s floats were several odes to Paraguay´s entry in the FIFA World Cup.

In the case of Paraguay the sins of carnaval are mostly of the beer drinking, dancing, and ooggling of semi-naked girls variety. The largest carnaval celebrations take place in http://www.carnaval.com.py Encarnacion where an entire section of city blocks is set up as the parade route, known as the “sambódromo.” This name comes from the brazilian samba music that accompanies the parade, usually played by live bands and marching drumlines. Over the course of several weekends the bleachers of the sambódromo are filled with party-goers cheering, dancing, and, of course, drinking, while groups of drumlines, themed floats, and costumed women representing different clubs or neighborhoods dance by to the samba beat. Groups compete for popularity with the crowds and a chance at winning the grand prize at the end of carnaval season. Playing on escalating soccer fever, among this year´s floats were several odes to Paraguay´s entry in the FIFA World Cup.

Carnaval festivities take place on a smaller scale in cities and towns throughout the Paraguay (such as Villarica, Caacupé and Asunción). Driving through the countryside this summer one might have seen sections of the highway being prepared as parade routes and large “passacalles” (banners) announcing upcoming festivities. This year Semana Santa (Holy Week) falls early on the calendar so carnaval activities blended into summer vacation. Now that Ash Wednesday has passed and summer vacation is over the time has come to settle back down and start thinking about where you´ll be spending Semana Santa!

Not all carnavals in Paraguay are festivities centered around semi-naked glitz. In an upcoming post I’ll discuss the carnaval held by the Guarani indigenous community of Santa Teresita in the northern Chaco.