Walking in Beauty: Carnival

 

By Glenn B. Jenks

The celebration of Mardi Gras, in some French-speaking parts of the world, and Carnival, in Spanish-speaking areas is one of the most colorful and beautiful experiences of the year.  In 2008, I was in Ecuador and Peru during the celebration of Carnival. In Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, street dancers dressed in clown costumes would appear seemingly from nowhere. They put on a show for free that lifted the spirits of all who were fortunate enough to witness antics. Below are just a few of the street dancers who appeared one afternoon in the central plaza of the city, called Plaza Grande.

 

jenks_carnival_1_whiteface600

 

jenks_canival_2_devil500

 

jenks_canival_3_purplegroup600

 

jenks_Quito Ladies600
Later I was in a village high in the mountains of Peru called Chivay. Carnival is there by celebrated by music and dancing also. But such remote villages don’t have the resources of the big cities. People there have to improvise to produce the music and to decorate themselves for the dancing. The ladies, and little girls dress themselves in whatever they have, literally that includes “the kitchen sink”. When the dancing begins they dance to music provided by the men and boys. The music is made from only two instruments, big drums and flutes made from PVC pipe.  Welcome to Carnival Chivay-style.

 

jenks_carnival_5_backpacker500

 

jenks_best dancers600

 

jenks_More Drummers600

 

Jenks_Chivay Carnival Band600

Related Articles

Walking in Beauty – Published 01/30/2014  (Provides  links to all Walking in Beauty articles.

Author: Glenn B. Jenks

Glenn B. Jenks is a retired Episcopal Priest and a former lawyer. Glenn writes that with retirement he "now has the opportunity to pursue his life-time passion as a professional photographer." In addition to taking photographs, he also, upon request, teaches photography to individuals and groups. Jenks is a resident of North Phoenix, Readers can view more samples of his fine art and portrait photographs at www.glennbjenksphoto.com and contact him at glenn@glennbjenksphotography.com or 602-301-2702.

Share This Post On
468 ad

1 Comment

  1. super fantastic I’m so happy to see these – they are great

    Post a Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.