madeira4u - Leisure - Festivals, Carnival, New Year, & Local Events and Celebrations on Madeira & Porto Santo
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| Use the side bar menu to find your category, or use the search box. If you want to know about festivals in Funchal, use keywords FESTIVAL FUNCHAL |
| Christmas & New Year Celebrations Christmas is a big event on Madeira. It normally starts to warm up around mid November, and carries through well into January. Funchal and all the towns and villages of Madeira make a big effort to dress up and light up their town, and some of the displays are dazzling. Christmas eve is the main night for Xmas, where traditional family gatherings eat traditional Portuguese dishes, and then the younger and more energetic go out and enjoy themselves. However, when New Years Eve arrives, this is something different altogether. Tens of thousands of people gather in and around Funchal, from all over the island and the world, enjoying the atmosphere and anticipating the great moment. Traffic is gridlocked, public transport bursts at the seams, and don't even think about arranging a taxi. During the summer, a competition is run on Madeira to select the most promising contender to take the massive responsibility of the greatest firework display in the world. The competition is stiff, with several international bids competing. At midnight, you witness over 16 square kilometres of participation in the world's biggest firework display (Guinness Book Of Records 2007), involving boats and cruise ships. In the 2006/7 event, over 17 tons of fireworks provided over 660,000 detonations over a period of a little less than 10 minutes. When that's all over, a different kind of celebrating begins, with many bars, clubs, and restaurants staying open all night on what is for sure their most profitable night of the year. |
| Festivals & Other Local Events On Madeira It is said that there is a festival "festa" going on somewhere every week on the island, and when you look at the lists through the link below for events on Madeira, you will probably believe it. Some festivals on Madeira are quiet religious affairs, unnoticeable to the untrained eye, and others are huge colourful events, such as the February carnivals in Funchal. To find out which ones are well worth the effort to attend, contact the nearest Tourist Information Office (they are spread around Madeira, particularly in Funchal. If you experience one or more 'festas' on Madeira, let us know which ones are recommended or are the best, and we will mark them as such - please email us with the details feedback@madeira4u.com |
| Festivals "Festas" Every town on Madeira & Porto Santo, however small, celebrates something(s) each year. Normally its a saint's day, but any excuse will do! And this is the one thing where it happens better outside of Funchal. When you see one in action, you will normally find the main street decked out in lights, or decorations, or flowers, or any combination of the three. The active participants will be there in their themed costumes, or colourful traditional Madeiran costumes. Sometimes they go on for several days, and no one really knows how long they go on for into the night, as festas take precedence over Madeira law. Depending on the event, many people travel to be there, and even the smallest village may have hundreds of people turn up from all over Madeira for their main event. The biggest festivals will have parades and / or dancing, especially at the February Carnivals. They will all have music, sometimes with live local music, and occasionally live bands playing something a bit more rocky. You can eat all you like from the street side stalls, where barbecued chunks on sticks (espatada) and chicken are cooked to order, or you can eat bolo do caco (a delicious homemade bread made from sweet potatoes), oozing with garlic butter and herbs. You can wash this down with a chilled bottle of the local Coral beer, or try some of the locally produced wine, or of course there's plenty suitable for kids too. You may even be able to do some shopping as well, as the bigger festivals on Madeira attract traders from all over the island, who set up stalls and sell anything from clothes, to food, to CDs, electronics, and a thousand other semi-desirable items. This really is a great way to mix with local people, and savour the atmosphere of real Madeiran life. You will see whole families, often spanning 4 generations. Its a cheap night out for everyone, and if you come to Madeira without experiencing a festa, then you have missed something quite special. |
| Carnival Time Once Christmas has passed by, its only a few weeks until the other major event of the year on Madeira ... Carnival Time! It seems like the whole of the island descends into Funchal, although in reality other towns have their own celebrations, and some people choose to stay at home and watch it live on TV. Spanning several days, with different parades and themes, you will see the most spectacular home made costumes, choreographed dancing, and also some scantily clad or even naked participants braving the cool February night Madeiran air. It doesn't quite rival the Rio de Janeiro Carnival parades, but for a small island its a massive performance. |
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| CLICK HERE to see the Funchal Carnival Photos, 2nd February 2008 |
| CLICK HERE to see the Children's Carnival Parade in Ribeira Brava, February 2008 |
| CLICK HERE for the Funchal Carnival Photos, February 2008 |
| CLICK HERE to see the Children's Carnival Parade in Ribeira Brava, February 2008 |
| CLICK HERE to see the Porto Santo Trapalhão Carnival photos 5th February, 2008 |
| CLICK HERE to see the Porto Santo Carnival 2008 |