Menorca Carnival 2026
Carnival, a colorful and joy-filled holiday, is a time of fun where costumes, masks, and music come together to create an atmosphere of contagious celebration beyond the floats.
In Menorca, these festivities are called “Darrers Dies” because they constitute the last days of celebration that precede Lent, a time that is characterized by fasting and sobriety.
Nowadays, carnival has become a recreational festivity, standing out for the presence of games, music, dances and entertainment in general. The term “carnival” is used by analogy to describe any other similar celebration in which the lack of restrictions and permissiveness that characterize this festivity in its origin predominate.
Carnival Festivities
Calendar ofCalendar of February, 2026
Dijous Jarder
It is the first day of Carnival and the reign of Carnestoltes begins, where defences and excesses are allowed. It all starts with the “Dijous Jarder”, a clear example of the link between Carnival and gastronomy. Although Lent is a time of sacrifice and eating little, the “Carnestoltes” is the feast of the flesh. It is time to enjoy the abundance to prepare the body for the scarcity of food that Lent brings. In Menorca, pork and sausages are the options on offer.
Divendres de Carnaval
In some towns in Menorca, during Carnival Friday, various activities take place that are part of the program of events aimed at the celebration of carnival.
Dissabte de Carnaval
Inventiveness and creativity are manifested in the carnival “rua” with parades of floats full of color and music that exude joy and desire to have a good time. In most of the towns of Menorca, after these parades, a contest is held where the components of these “ruas” participate and the prizes are awarded to the winners. There are also dances, open-air dances and musical performances.
Diumenge de Carnaval
In some towns, such as Sant Lluís and Es Castell, the carnival parade is postponed, and in Mercadal there is a children’s parade where the little ones can enjoy.
Dilluns de Carnaval
The celebration of Carnival Monday will take place in Alaior where a great Carnival festival is held.
Origin of Carnival in Menorca
Both “Carnestoltes” and Carnival designate the week of amusements and excesses prior to Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent.
Both words have their roots in Latin expressions such as “carnem levare” (carnival) or “carnem tollere” (carnestoltes), meaning without meat. This origin explains why Carnestoltes indicates the end of the period of excesses and, in a traditional way, opens the way to penance. In Catalan, the word Carnival has come directly from Spanish and is a complete synonym of Carnestoltes, a word of the same origin that also exists in Spanish: “carnestolendas”.
The death of carnival
Today, in Maó, Alaior, Es Castell and Sant Lluís, the death of carnival is celebrated with an entourage of people who perform the funeral pomp to a well-known character in the municipality. This tradition was also carried out in Ciutadella, where they went to the Castell de Sant Nicolau to get rid of it as with the bujots.
Carnestoltes and Camestortes
Carnestoltes also serves to name the king of Carnival, a fictional character who embodies all the qualities related to debauchery, transgression and excesses. It is also known as Camestortes in Maó and Es Castell, and is in charge of presiding over the activities of the festive carnival cycle, inviting the population to enjoy the festival.
Bernat Figuerola
In Alaior, the celebration of carnival revolves around the figure of Bernat Figuerola. The story goes that this character, a shoemaker who left in search of fortune in America, returns for the celebration of Carnival. Despite suffering from a serious illness that quickly weakens him, Bernat, who is represented by a doll, presides over all the festive events in the town. The making of the doll begins a few days before the event, thus marking the beginning of the festivities, usually on a Thursday, participating in the floats and parades of the carnival. On Shrove Tuesday, Bernat Figuerola dies accompanied by a funeral procession and, anticipating the inevitable, writes a satirical will that the notary reads in the square. Finally, the character is lost in the flames of a large bonfire, marking the beginning of the Lenten season of recollection.
Torrada des Darrer Dimarts
This local gastronomic celebration brings together small groups of diners from Ciutadella, Ferreries and Es Mercadal, made up of family and friends who get together to share a special meal. Beyond the sobrassada, they enjoy other local sausages and different types of meat, which some cook in the caliu and others on the grill. For Menorcans, Darrer Dimarts is a day of enjoyment in company, in which many take the opportunity to feast on the so-called “forbidden foods” before the start of Lent, all in a relaxed and carefree atmosphere.
The references to this tradition, already noted in 1887, specify the outings to the countryside, to Santandria, Sa Caleta, Sa Teulera and the Barranc d’Algendar. In Es Mercadal, and Fornells, it recovered at the beginning of 1980, when they went back to Cala Rotja.