June Highlights: Mission Festivals

Carnaval returned during a local street festival, when the dancers who had worked so hard for the parade were able to share the spirit with locals by dancing again and posing for photos. 

May Highlights: Carnaval (25 May 2025)

Carnaval is one of our best local festivals, and I took SO MANY PHOTOS this year...  I have two galleries up on my photography website.

2025 Carnaval SF - People and 2025 Carnaval SF - Cars.  These are favorites among many favorite scenes...

 

Carnaval 14

I have an unexpectedly high number of favorite photos from this event (I'm usually so bad at this! What happened?!?  Also am giving many of them an overexposed look to compensate for the harsh May shadows, so you can see the faces in the shadows of the hats and headdresses, and that takes time...).  I need more time to review and organize them, so I'll stop my posting here for now. 

Carnaval 13

I learned some things about festival color coordination, and how it makes an impressive view from a distance if done this well. 

Carnaval 12

Always delighted with the Afro-Carribean presence at this festival! (Also, great use of fabric to make a splash!) 

Carnaval 11

It's a kind of community service to put on an awesome costume and dance down the street to raise local spirits - as well as just being cool. 

Carnaval 10

I now wonder why I don't wear a sash with my name on it, plus a tiara, when I go to work.  Hmmm...

Also, I send love to my doctor neighbor who used to travel to Central America and bring me back beautiful, embroidered blouses when I was a kid.  I loved those.  (I still have them - I've used the embroidery to make beautiful cyanotypes!) 

Carnaval 9

Hello, high Andes!  The neon-like colors of the costumes always stand out. 

Carnaval 8

Their energy is impressive - it takes a lot to maintain the rattle-rhythm at the intense beat that they dance at. 

Carnaval 7

So many great costumes! (And so many sore feet by the end, I am certain!) 

Carnaval 6

I anticipate that my pen friends will tire of me sending them parade photos - but they can't stop me! 😂 

They have a Lent-related carnaval in Europe -- Fasnacht in Switzerland, where I was working, was a big freaking deal, and the people who participated looked forward to it all year.  Fasnacht was focused on European folk traditions and instruments.  

SF Carnaval is focused on the traditions of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the African Diaspora throughout the Americas, so it has different folk traditions and looks quite different - and the drumming is SUPERB!  

Carnaval 5

A passerby asked me if I attended the parade because it is pretty, and I told him I attend it because I love the community participation.  I also thanked my mother for taking me to our wonderful City festivals - Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo (back when we had that), Carnval, and PRIDE - throughout my childhood.  It was not only fun, but it gave me a sense of community engagement and celebrating our many different backgrounds and communities TOGETHER that I love so much.

Carnaval 4

The steadiness to walk the entire parade route with a tray of beverages on one's head is an understated performance piece. 

Carnaval 3

The Native (north) American group delivered this completely beautiful ceremonial outfit.   

Carnaval 2 (Aztec theme)

Ritual smoke, ankle rattles, and THE BEST HEADDRESS DISPLAYS,  always.  

Carnaval 1 (putting the CAR in CARNAVAL)

I went to SF Carnaval, and had entirely too much fun. The mood was good; the crowd was excited, the weather was blindingly bright but not oppressively hot or windy, and the parade outlasted me, somehow. (69 participating groups!)

The parade openers, the low riders and classic car clubs, went on for perhaps the first hour of the parade.  (I had a group from Nicaragua near me, displaying a flag, and so I heard and saw their joy for cars displaying Nicaraguan flags, or in a few cases, blue cars generally.  😄 )

Even as a cyclist/pedestrian who doesn't own a car, the particular cars in the parade reminded me of the Mission in the 1970s, and the fact that I've probably seen these same cars on the street from that era, with the same families in them (or their parents), is rather sweet.  So. Many. Impalas!  I can also swear on my stack of Girlyhead magazines that I also grasp the appeal of analog cars that can be maintained with the skill of an ordinary enthusiast.

What I appreciated this time (after several years of being unable to attend) was the paint.  The colors! The colors with a diferent shade of sparkle that is only visible in certain light/angles! (Favorite: dark gray with red sparkle.)  The subtle depth!  As a painter, I appreciate the care (and love of shimmer) that went into these.

As someone who lost a dear relative who was a fan of cars, one who would respond to any photo I sent of a fin with the make and model of the car, I was also nostalgic for the response he would have given me if I had texted photos to him in real time from this event.