Latest news with #Carnaval
CBS News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Weekend To Do List: Greek festival, carnaval and makers market in Massachusetts
Weekend To Do List: Greek festival, makers market and a carnaval in Massachusetts Weekend To Do List: Greek festival, makers market and a carnaval in Massachusetts Weekend To Do List: Greek festival, makers market and a carnaval in Massachusetts Kick off the start of June with two festivals and a makers market in Massachusetts! Makers Market in Norwood Shop dozens of vendors with handmade goods and vintage finds at a Makers Market on Sunday. Head to Castle Island Brewing Company in Norwood to shop, sip and snack with local pizza, sandwiches, drinks and more. Catch the fun from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. When: Sunday, June 1, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Where: Castle Island Brewing Company, 31 Astor Ave., Norwood Cost: Items available for purchase Click here for more information 2025 Carnaval in Somerville Carnaval returns to Somerville Sunday to kick off the 2025 Somerstreets season. Put on your dancing shoes from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and enjoy live music, family-friendly activities, unique cuisine, vendors and a special parade. The rain date is June 8. When: Sunday, June 1, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Where: East Somerville Business District - Broadway from McGrath Highway to Pennsylvania Avenue, Somerville Cost: Items available for purchase Click here for more information Woburn Greek Festival The Woburn Greek Festival is going on this weekend. Enjoy lively Greek music, cultural eats, shopping, dance performances and more at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. The festival takes place from Friday through Sunday. When: Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday, June 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Annunciation of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Christian Church, 70 Montvale Ave., Woburn Cost: Items available for purchase Click here for more information
CBS News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Meet the newly crowned Queen of Carnaval San Francisco, Zoel Mendoza
SAN FRANCISCO — For Zoel Mendoza, the newly crowned 2025 Queen of Carnaval San Francisco, this is no ordinary crown — it's a symbol of renewal, identity, and cultural celebration. As she rehearses at Casa de Carnaval ahead of the city's iconic Mission District parade, Mendoza said Carnaval represents far more than music and dance. "Carnaval is a celebration. It is, what we say in Portuguese, 'Uma limpeza' — it cleans energy. It brings in new things. It opens doors. It's almost like the beginning of a new year. It's a renewal," she said. That sense of renewal is deeply personal for Mendoza. As an Afro-Mexicana, she said this year's theme, Afro-Mundo, resonates with her own story — one shaped by a layered and evolving relationship with race and identity. "Afro-Mundo really, really resonates with me. Especially because I'm Afro-Latina. And it's something that I kind of struggled with when I was younger," Mendoza said. "I felt I didn't really land in one camp or the other. So, I had a bit of an identity crisis." Through dance — and with training in Brazil and other cultural centers — Mendoza found clarity and confidence in her identity, as well as a calling to uplift others on similar journeys. In her new role as queen, she hopes to shine a light on fellow artists and deepen the impact of Carnaval's vibrant legacy. "I really believe in community, and I really want to bring on as many artists as I possibly can," she said. "Platform them, work with them, collaborate with them. Because that's how culture grows, and that's how it's passed — by sharing the space." Mendoza currently shares her passion for samba while building spaces where others in the diaspora can also feel seen and celebrated. "Being crowned this year means so much to me because not only have I found my own identity in something that is 100 percent me," she said, "but I'm crowned in a year that really feels like a year that celebrates people like us — who are part of the diaspora, those who are very aware of who they are in the diaspora, and those that are lost, like I was. So it feels like I'm coming home with a win, and I'm very grateful." It's that gratitude, rooted in rhythm and joy, that Mendoza now brings to every step of her Carnaval reign.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
San Francisco Carnaval parade highlights rich culture of historic Mission District
SAN FRANCISCO - It's Carnaval weekend, and those who celebrate took to the streets in the historic Mission District Sunday morning for the annual San Francisco Carnaval Parade. Aztec dancers blessed the start of San Francisco's 46th annual Carnaval Parade, where attendees had their cultures on display, loud and proud. "Vestimenta, this is from Bolivia. And this is celebrating highlight spinners, spinning thread in the altiplano," said Carnaval dancer, Holly Flores. Flores is half Bolivian, and she says staying connected to her community is a huge part of Carnaval. "It's very healing, it's very special, we're a strong community. I learned that around the 50s and 60s, there were 400 Bolivian families that immigrated to Northern California, and this group is the descendants of those families. We're still connected," Flores told KTVU. Carnaval is meant to honor the diverse Latin American, Caribbean, and African diasporic roots of the Mission District. San Francisco's Carnaval celebrations started back in 1979. Since then, hundreds of thousands of attendees have poured into the city streets at the festival each year. Some folks see it as a prime opportunity to shine a light on their countries and cultures. Gaynor Ann Siatchea has been attending the Carnaval celebrations in San Francisco since its inception in 1979. "It's culture and continuing to feel that. This is ours, and we belong. And as a native San Franciscan, it's important," Siatchea said. Among the dozens of floats in the parade was a sea of classic lowriders from several car clubs across California."It means a lot because we grew up here in this district," Francisco Jesus Antolin, president of Justlowriders Bay Area Car Club, told KTVU. Antolin grew up in the Mission District, and he says his lowrider is more than just a truck; it's a connection to his culture and his community. It also carries the memory of someone near and dear to his heart. A portrait of his late mother is painted over the engine of his truck. "It's been five years since she's been gone…" Antolin said. "I feel grateful…Because wherever I go, she's with me."
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘This is us': Carnaval San Francisco showcases Latin American heritage and pride
Thousands of people turned out to celebrate the cultural heritage of Latin America and beyond during Carnaval San Francisco's parade Sunday, transforming the streets of the Mission District into a vibrant party. Participants and spectators alike waved flags from Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Bolivia and other countries, as salsa, merengue and other types of Latin music blasted in the streets during the four-hour parade, which covered 20 blocks in the historic neighborhood. This year's Carnaval theme, 'AfroMundo: African Diaspora in the Americas,' recognized cultural creativity rooted in the Americas. Bay Area percussionist and producer John Santos and Brazilian dancer and vocalist Dandha Da Hora served as grand marshals of the parade. 'AfroMundo is a celebration of the heartbeat that connects continents,' Rodrigo Durán, executive director of Carnaval San Francisco, said in a statement. 'In John Santos and Dandha Da Hora, we have two artists whose lives and legacies embody this very rhythm — local and global, historic and contemporary, spiritual and joyful.' The parade, which started at 24th and Bryant streets and traveled west to Mission Street, then north to 15th Street, featured more than 3,000 artists in 60 contingents. The parade showcased all sorts of dances, from Mexican folkloric dances and Afro-Brazilian styles, including samba and capoeira. Even nontraditional dancers showed off their skills: A Recology contingent featured workers in yellow vests who danced around with blue recycling bins and green compost bins as props, with 'La vida es un carnaval' by Celia Cruz blasting in the background. Angeles Gabriela Avila Lopez, a member of Communidad Maya Yucateca's folklorico dance group, said the parade was an opportunity to showcase her cultural heritage — and her pride. 'We want everyone to know about our culture and our traditions,' she said, dressed in a traditional garment, with a shawl over her shoulders and flowers and a ribbon in her hair. 'Although we're far from our country, from our state, we carry our country and our state in our hearts.' She and the rest of her group performed the jarana, a typical dance from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Brianna Smith's group, Beautiful Beginnings Art Collective, showcased the multicultural background of the group, including the heritage of Colombia, West Africa and Haiti. 'I feel like it's such a great way to show solidarity and unity in a city that's ever changing,' Smith said of the parade. And, she added, 'to show we're still here.' Her contingent stood out, in part, for its massive prop: the crafted head and upper body of a woman, propped up by three members of the collective. Smith said the woman, named Moura, represented Mother Earth and the Indigenous communities that make up many heritages. Spectators on the sidelines were just as eager to show their pride. 'I like coming here because I get to show who I am. I get to shout out my heritage,' said Jasmine Garcia, 24, of Sacramento, who was decked out in a Puerto Rico baseball jersey, Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente's 21 on the back. She made the trip to San Francisco for the parade with her 18-year-old sister, Angela Garcia, who had a Puerto Rican flag wrapped around her torso. 'It's something I'm very proud of, and I'm glad I'm Puerto Rican,' Angela Garcia said. San Francisco resident Donald Riggan, who was born and raised in Jamaica, said it was fun to see different backgrounds represented in the parade. He attended with his wife and daughters, ages 3 and 9. As the floats electrified the crowd, his oldest daughter shouted in excitement when she spotted a flag she recognized: 'Dad, Jamaica right there!' 'It brings a lot of joy to my heart,' Riggan said in an interview moments later. 'She's getting excited because she's seeing the Jamaican flag and she's represented.' The parade was bittersweet for Amparo Vigil, whose family owns Puerto Alegre. The Mexican restaurant's second location shuttered Friday on 25th Street, just a block away from the start of the parade's route. The rising costs of the business and the death of her parents in recent years led her family to decide to sell the building, Vigil said. Sunday marked the last time Vigil handed out Mexican hot chocolate and pan dulce to participants and spectators outside the restaurant. 'This is our way of connecting and giving back to the community,' Vigil said of the tradition, recalling her late father standing at the restaurant's door in past years as the contingents geared up to participate in the parade. Vigil said she believes events like Carnaval empower the community, especially in the face of racism, classism and 'all of the atrocities' in the U.S. and around the world. 'This is us. This is Latinoamerica. This is in our blood, this is in our culture. This is us getting to show us,' Vigil said. 'We get to be in the streets and get to show us — what we look like, what we talk like, what we feel like, what we dance like. I love it.'
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Bay Area Cuicacalli dance group excited to debut at San Francisco Carnaval
Connection is at the core of Cuicacalli: connection to the rhythm, to the Earth below, to an individual's culture. And this year, Jesus Cortes and his students will get to connect with a crowd they've never had the chance to connect with before. "I always work to bring my culture to the highest point that I can," Cortes said. "To me, it's a fabulous honor to be able to bring this culture, my culture, to San Francisco." For the first time, Cortes and his students will get to perform their Mexican Folklorico dance routine in the Carnaval Parade. "We have about 50 dancers who are going to be performing with us," he said. "We are super excited to now go and take the streets with Carnaval San Francisco here in the Mission District." Many of his students have been with him since he started the dance group in 2007. Fernanda Mercado is one of his students who has been with him since the early days of Cuicacalli – She started when she was 5 years old. "Dance is just my passion. It's what I want to do forever," she said. Mercado said it will be an honor to perform in the parade this year. "It's going to feel amazing," she said. She is especially proud of her connection to what people in the crowd will see Cuicacalli perform. "I'm really excited to showcase a choreography I'm making for one of our Carnaval pieces," Mercado said. "That's really exciting for me, to be able to choreograph a dance." It's safe to say Cortes is proud of his students. "Some of them now are in college, some of them are already professional dancers," he said. "My goal is that through dance, through the culture, they can maintain and sustain their identity and feel proud of who they are." Come parade day, Cortes said Cuicacalli will complement Carnaval's colorful collage of cultures. "It's going to be amazing to be a part of the parade," he said.
