GUALEGUAYCHÚ CARNIVAL

The carnival is one of the most popular events for tourists. The “corsódromo” (the place where the parades take place) of Gualeguaychú was inaugurated in 1997. The carnival is considered the biggest one in Argentina.

Comparsas (Groups)

The comparsas are livened up by music. Beautiful women and wonderful costumes help making an unforgettable spectacle. Every comparsa has 230 to 280 members, fancy costumes and four floats.

Every year, the Saturdays of January and February, the “Corsódromo” contains more than 40.000 people. The show is composed by comparsas which belong to different clubs and sportive centers of the city; the main ones are: Marí-Marí that belongs to “Juventud Unida” (a social and sportive club), Kamarra that belongs to Centro Sirio Libanés and Ara-Yeví that belongs to Club Tiro Federal.

The carnival show begins with a group called “comision de frente” that is composed by figures (dancers) and impressive costumes according to the chosen thematic. After that, the opening float passes; this has a representation and it is very common to see the group’s name on the front part of the group.

You can also see the “pareja de embajadores”; they are a couple with bright colorful costumes. They usually have the symbol of their sponsor. The woman carries the flag and the man dances around her.

Every comparsa presents beautiful and complete costumes: “espaldares” (it covers the back), headdress (it covers the head), pectorals, shoulder pads, bracelets, belts, loincloths, thongs, boots, etc. The “espaldares” and the headdress are significant, apart from their beauty and color; they symbolize what the group represents itself by the use of some figures. Sometimes, the representations are situated on the bracelets and on the boots too. Generally, the comparsa have 2.5000 feathers and loads of sequins, pearls and other adornments that overcome a total of 500.000 pieces.

History

The first years of the XX century, the public march passed through the road and it surrounded the pavements of 25 de Mayo. It was composed by family members.

After some years, the carnivals with musical groups and masks appeared. In the middle of the seventies, it seemed that the carnival started to decline. In 1976, a businessman and a dance instructor created the first comparsa called “Acorad”. In 1978, the first announcement for profiting was carried out, since then; the celebration has been free and municipal.
Socio-sportive institutions accepted the community’s proposal for organizing the great carnival spectacle because it seemed to be an attractive and competitive activity.

The children comparsas began as children play, but later, it became more popular and such comparsas decided to participate in “El Carnaval de la Alegría” in 1977.

In 1981, the actual carnival reached great splendor. More and more groups participated. As it was mentioned before, the most important ones are: Marí – Marí, Kamarr (“Arabian Moon”) and Ara Yeví (“time to fun” in Guaraní). Today, it is the main event of the city.