Carnival

Five days of uninterrupted festivities, characterized by debauchery and satire, taking heed of the festive slogan “Per Carnaval tot s’hi val” (“At Carnival time, anything goes”), not forgetting the performances of the Esbart Sant Romà dance troupe. It is, without doubt, the star festival in the parish of Encamp, organized, and participated in by the young people of the parish and the people of Encamp quite rightly are very proud of their Carnival.

The event that marks the beginning of Carnival in Encamp is the Penjada de Sa Majestat el Carnestoltes (Hanging of His Magesty Carnestoltes). On the Sunday of Carnival, the Judici dels Contrabandistes (Trial of the Smugglers) takes place, where some young people dress up as smugglers and, loaded up with packages, come down the mountain and later run through the streets of the town followed by a patrol of Spanish carabineers who en d up capturing the entire group of the Sis Dits.

The Ball de l’Òssa d’Encamp (Encamp Bear Dance), which has been performed since the Middle Ages, is done on the Monday of Carnival, and the young people of the parish perform, in their own crazy way, the traditional legend integrating satire and jokes about current affairs.

On the Tuesday of Carnival, the day on which the whole of Andorra buries the sardine to denote the end of the festivities, the Operació del Carnestoltes takes place at which King Carnestoltes receives emergency surgery after having been hanging for four days, to try to prevent him from dying so as not to have to resign themselves to putting Carnival and all the debauchery behind them. On Ash Wednesday, as he has not survived the operation at the hands of the inexpert “surgeons”, King Carnestoltes is buried, after a succulent meal of sardines, in an incineration to the sound of a noisy string of fireworks and with the intervention of the Cullerot d’Encamp.