This weekend my abuela took me to our local Casa de Carnival because the queen of this year’s Carnival was passing by with a troop of traditional Congo dancers. And no, these dancers aren’t from the Congo, as for some reason I assumed…instead, they actually dance the Congo line…you know, “duh duh duh duh duh DUH!”
Anyway, as gorgeous as this year’s queen is, I was slightly disappointed to hear that the selection process isn’t even close to democratic. As my abuela explained, the queen is picked by the committee who runs the carnival. So she’s always rich, from one of the high stratas, often the daughter of political figures, etc. Partially this is for connections, and then the practical reason is that she buys all her outfits for the year, apparently…dresses, masks, etc. And of course, she has to have time to attend the numerous festival functions all year round.
May I remind you, Carnival starts in FEBRUARY, but they weren’t kidding when they said festivities began with the Immaculate Conception; here are some pictures of the 2012 queen!
For some reason, the men put soft-porn pinup girl pictures on the back of their traditional hats. Really couldn’t tell you why, nor did my abuela have any sort of explanation for me!
One of the more tame images:
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