Santiago is a widely diverse city – African, Chinese, Indigenous, Haitian, and Spanish lineage walk among Santiago’s streets. These various cultures and ethnicities come together with one goal: to party! Though in the process of course unity and community is celebrated as well. It was a means the people of Santiago to push away the stresses of life to let the music and dance take over.
The carnival was formerly called Mamarrachos. These were several individual festivals held
throughout July. The spirit of the Mamarrachos is mirrored in Santiago’s carnival today. Various
food cooked and shared, costumes, masked balls, and comparsas. The comparsas are the street parades and performers – basically what you see in Santiago’s carnival. The conga and paseo are the two types of comparsas. The conga were mainly made up of lower class citizens while the paseo was largely more extravagant. However both street parades, comparsas, featured musicians and choreographed dancers. The street parade features large floats, munecones, or tall paper maches characters and figures wearing elaborate masks. Conga music and other local musical style serve as the perfect soundtrack to this carnival. Santiago Carnival is a festival inspired by its own richly diverse history and culture.
