The Carnival is a celebration throughout the Canary Islands, but not all municipalities in the archipelago consider Carnival Tuesday a holiday. In the province of Las Palmas, the three capitals of the islands –Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Puerto del Rosario, and Arrecife– have chosen 13th of February, Carnival Tuesday, as a holiday. On the other hand, in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, it is only a holiday in three of the four island capitals: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santa Cruz de La Palma, and San Sebastián de La Gomera. Valverde, in El Hierro, remains out, and the only one of the three municipalities of El Hierro that takes a holiday on 13th February is La Frontera.
Carnival Tuesday is a holiday in 44 municipalities of the Canary Islands, half of the 88 in the Canary Archipelago. Of these 44, 14 belong to the province of Las Palmas and 30 to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Canary municipalities where Carnival Tuesday is celebrated, organized by provinces and islands and in alphabetical order, are:
Las Palmas
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Santa Cruz de Tenerife
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- Tenerife: Adeje, Arafo, Arico, Arona, Buenavista del Norte, Candelaria, El Rosario, Fasnia, Granadilla de Abona, Icod de los Vinos, La Laguna, La Matanza, La Orotava, La Victoria, Los Silos, San Miguel de Abona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santa Úrsula, and Tacoronte.
- La Palma: Barlovento, Breña Alta, Fuencaliente, Los Llanos de Aridane, Puntagorda, Puntallana, Santa Cruz de La Palma, and Tijarafe
- La Gomera: San Sebastián de La Gomera.
- El Hierro: La Frontera.
Although Carnival Tuesday is only a holiday in half of the Canary municipalities, several have marked a holiday around these dates, but on another day. This is the case with three municipalities in the province of Las Palmas.
The exceptions in Las Palmas are given by the municipality of Agüimes, which chooses Carnival Thursday – 15th February – as a holiday, and by the municipalities of Antigua and Betancuria, which celebrate Carnival Monday, although the former chooses 5th February and the latter 11th March.
