Carnestoltes de Pego: when it is celebrated, notable events and history

The Pego Carnival is one of the most representative festivals of the town. For this reason, and for the grandeur that the event has acquired since its inception, it is one of the best-known carnival celebrations in the Valencian Community.

Carnestoltes in Pego in 1992 – Municipal Archive of Pego

When is?

The Carnival of Pego is celebrated on Saturday before Ash Wednesday, that is, the weekend before the start of Lent. Although the festival in the municipality no longer has anything to do with the religious date, that day is still maintained as a way of setting it on the calendar.

Carnival parade in 1992

In 2025 the start of the events with the proclamation will take place on February 21. About the Festival d'Arts Escèniques, the current Carnival celebration in Pego, the City Council has been forced to cancel the Festival due to the rain. There is no new date for the event at the moment.

Featured Acts

The Pegolina town is known for spreading the carnival spirit throughout the town. For this reason, the different acts are divided into three different weeks. The most outstanding activities of the Carnival in Pego are the following:

Bullent River Baixada

La Baixada del Riu Bullent It is a boat tour across the Bullent River that takes place on the Saturday before Carnival. In 2025,, this day falls on February 22. In it, various groups cross the river in boats created by themselves.

Baixada participants struggling not to fall from the boat

The objective of the competition is the removal of waste and the general cleaning of the course of the Bullent River. However, there are boats that barely manage to reach the finish line, so waste collection is not viable on some occasions.

In addition, as the initiative is conceived as a pre-carnival party, another of the main purposes is to bring people together and spend the day with friends. For this reason, one of the peculiarities of the current festival is that the participants must come dressed up.

Learn more about the Baixada del riu Bullent.

The King Carnestoltes

The week of Carnival, it is a tradition in Pego that the King Carnestoltes goes out on the balcony of the town hall to dictate to the boys and girls what garment or accessory they should add to their costume every day of the week. With the intention of offering more children's activities, after the announcement various animations are carried out for the little ones.

Festival of Performing Arts

EVENT SUSPENDED IN 2025, until further notice. | As a way of revitalizing Carnestoltes, Pego started the Festival d'Arts Escèniques in 2020. The municipality continues to celebrate this event with the intention of making it another tradition. The proposal, devised by Atzaïla associació cultural through Marc Pons, local choreographer and dancer, It consisted of installing multiple scenarios with different themes throughout the municipality, where large groups of dancers offer dance and music performances. In 2025, the concept changes to become a spectacular parade with dance groups, actors and live music.

The festival aims to bring back the main essence of the Carnival to Pego. The great display of costumes, masks and elaborate make-up take the spectator back to the beginnings of the Pegolina festival in the 1980s. This year, it was planned to take place on 1 March, but it was finally suspended due to the forecast of rain.

Group of friends at the carnivals of Pego in 2003 - Arxiu Municipal de Pego

More information and details of the Festival d'Arts Cèniques.

crust day

The day of the crosta in Pego is celebrated on Tuesday of Carnival, prior to Ash Wednesday. That is, the March 4th 2025. That day a day is held in which the typical and most defining dish of Pego, the crosta, is tasted. It is a baked rice covered with beaten egg, so that a crust is created.

Arròs with crosta in Pego clay pot

On the day of the crosta, the Pegolinos gather with family and friends to cook and eat the dish. The reason for this celebration has its origin in the custom of saying goodbye to the most liberal period prior to the start of Lent. During the 40 days before Easter, the religious tradition of Christianity forbade eating meat on Ash Wednesday and every Friday of the quarantine.

Learn the full story, how the day of the crosta is now celebrated in Pego and where to eat it.

pinata

La pinata o burial of the sardine It is the celebration that says goodbye to the weeks of carnival party in Pego. It is celebrated on the Saturday after Carnestoltes, this year the March 8th 2025. The most traditional thing on this day is that the different troupes of the municipality walk the streets with a homemade monument, usually a coffin or a giant sardine, dressed in mourning or with costumes made for this purpose.

Group of friends at the 2019 Pinyata

At the end of the parade, all the participants congregate in the Pla de la Font and, there, they burn the monuments. After that, it is customary to hold a correfocs, where many of the troupes dance and celebrate the end of the festival with the fireworks.

More information and history of the Pego Pinyata.

History

The first documentation on the Carnestoltes in the municipality that collects the Municipal Archive of Pego indicates that the celebration was born in the town in the mid-nineteenth century. The evidence that exists about the party derives from the first municipal ordinances to regulate and control the party.

Ordinances and prohibitions

Specifically, the first ordinance dates from 1867 and is carried out by the Urban and Rural Police for Vila de Pego. It prohibits, during the three days of Carnival, which at that time was celebrated the days before Ash Wednesday (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), costumes with masks, for religious or military reasons and carrying weapons even if the costume required.

On the other hand, the party had to be daytime, you could not go in disguise at night. The decree already cataloged Carnival as a popular festival.

Casinos

Due to the law of associations, at the end of the same century, premises began to proliferate, called casinos, where the partners met for various purposes. A) Yes, in 1899 the Society of Hunters was born.

Ballroom in the Casino Caçadors for Carnival in 1928 - Arxiu Municipal de Pego

From this moment on, several more casinos abound, such as the Casino de Recreo, the Artesanos and the Presidente Republican Center. Although there is no clear documentation about it, It is very likely that the Carnivals were held inside these private premises, as a way of avoiding the prohibitions.

Second Republic and Civil War

It seems that during the Second Republic the Carnestoltes experienced one of its high points. Just in February 1931, a letter indicates the wishes of the mayor to decree certain prohibitions for the three days of Carnival.

Woman disguised for the 1931 Carnival - Arxiu Municipal de Pego

During the time, the masquerade ball, which was most likely held in the casinos, was one of the most important moments. For this reason, the decorations in the premises that day were very frequent.

However, with the Civil War and the arrival of Franco, the Carnival had to stop. In this way, in 1937 the celebration of the Carnival is prohibited in those places occupied by rebels.

The current Carnestoltes

After the Franco dictatorship, in 1981 and 1982, the Ateneu Llibertari de Pego organized workshops for the craftsmanship of masks. Some components dressed in these masks on Carnival Saturday and toured the streets and bars of the town.

Disguise of the Carnestoltes de Pego in 1987 - Arxiu Municipal de Pego

Officially, already in 1983, the Regidoria de Fiestas organizes the first masked ball in the streets Township. In 1993, from Cultura i Festes, a poster contest was organized and this somehow marks the official arrival of the festival every year.

Exhibition of posters of Carnestoltes in the Library and House of Culture of Pego

From this moment, the Carnestoltes pegolí begins to have a life of its own and extends over time to the present day. For this reason, over the years, the celebration has been adapted to the public and to the needs and tastes of each moment.

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