Carnival in Angola

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The Angola Carnival is the largest cultural event in the country, celebrated in the capitals of all the provinces. The largest parade takes place in Luanda .

history

The first designs of the carnival were introduced in Angola with the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century on the banks of the Congo among the Nzombo and Nzaus tribes. With the spread of the Portuguese trading posts along the coast, this festival was brought ever further south. The first major carnival with several parade groups and floats took place in Luanda in 1620. It was actually a church celebration by the Jesuits for the canonization of St. Francis Xavier . They tried to combine their concerns with traditional celebrations and brought richly decorated allegorical floats, like a monster with seven heads, to the procession. The military also took part with arquebuses and musket volleys, as did a moving group from São Tomé . This tradition continued until the liberal reform in Portugal of 1821, which was marked by strong anti-clericalism . The occasion of the carnival was now the king's birthday. As early as 1620 the carnival parade was led by a "king" and a "queen".

There have been three interruptions in the nearly 500-year history of Carnival in Angola :

  • In the 1940s with the outbreak of World War II,
  • from 1961 to 1963, after guerrilla fighters of the MPLA carried out coordinated attacks on the prisons of São Paulo and Casa de Reclusão and freed political prisoners on February 4, 1961 ,
  • after Angola's independence in 1975 until the first President Agostinho Neto reintroduced it in 1978 as a public festival for the recreation of the people with the phrase “Ao nosso Carnaval havemos de voltar” (We must return to our carnival).

Luanda Carnival

The largest carnival parade in the country takes place in the capital on the magnificent avenue Avenida 4 de Fevereiro . Every year over 40 groups from different parts of the city take part, including 15 children's groups. They spend an average of 22,400 euros per adult and 9,650 euros per group of children to participate and are supported by the state with 11,600 and 3,900 euros respectively. Each group performs with a specific dance style. The most popular dance styles include the Semba , Kabetula , Kazukuta, and Dizanda . The different groups compete against each other for the first, second and third prize over a distance of 400 m length and 12 m width. The jury will judge costumes, dance, singing, allegory, choreography and the phalanx of supporters. The winners receive 1.5 million Kwanzas (3,000 euros).

literature

David Birmingham: Carnaval em Luanda Universidade de Lisboa, 1991, pp. 421–423 (Portuguese)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carnaval tem maior força cultural em Luanda jornaldeangola.sapo.ao , February 24, 2019, accessed on November 17, 2019 (Portuguese)
  2. ↑ Quarenta e três grupos no Carnaval de Luanda angop.ao , March 2, 2019, accessed on November 17, 2019
  3. ↑ Angola: Carnaval de Luanda faz-se nem que a festa seja paga às prestações interlusofona.info , February 3, 2018, accessed on November 17, 2019
  4. ↑ Semba domina estilo de dança do Carnaval de Luanda angop.ao , March 2, 2019, accessed on November 17, 2019
  5. ↑ Grupos carnavalescos da clase A disputam hoje o 1 ° lugar no Carnaval de Luanda opais.co.ao , March 5, 2019, accessed on November 17, 2019