Extravaganza, colorful costumes, face masks: Sitges bids farewell to Carnival amid Covid-19

A minute’s silence in support of Ukraine ahead of a bright parade with music, people dancing, and plenty of colors is how the seaside town of Sitges, south of Barcelona, said goodbye to Carnival celebrations on Tuesday. 

Hundreds of people gathered in the streets to celebrate one of the craziest festivals in Catalonia. The ‘Extermination Parade’ is held on Tuesday night after days of Carnival events, which kicked off on Thursday the previous week. 

🎥 Sitges is a party for Carnival’s ‘Extermination Parade’

Up to 1,600 people participate in the event held in the seaside town, south of Barcelona

The parade is one of the biggest Carnival celebrations in Catalonia

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— Catalan News (@catalannews) March 1, 2022

Sitges will officially bid farewell to the King of Carnestoltes with the 'Burial of the Sardine' ritual on Ash Wednesday. However, the fun does not stop there, with hundreds of locals and visitors alike enjoying one last night of fun, dancing, and partying. 

The faces of those attending, despite many wearing face masks, were a reflection of their joy. It is the first time since the state of alarm was declared in Spain on March 14, 2020, that Sitges has been able to celebrate the Extermination Parade. 

That year, Carnival was held in late February, allowing thousands of people across Catalonia to have fun one last time before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. 

But to make sure, coronavirus did not stop those up to 1,600 people participating, they all wore colorful face masks in a similar design to their dresses. 

Despite the willingness of Sitges residents, the pandemic has had an impact on the celebration as it used to start at 9 pm local time, but this year local authorities moved the beginning of the 3-hour long parade at 7 pm.

In total, there were 34 floats with the King of Carnestoltes opening the parade with a big fake flamingo and dozens of dancers wearing pink feathers in flamingo alike floats. The parade closed, after plenty of music, with Carnival’s Queen, Sunna.