Madeira Island Events
Carnival
From 15th to 22nd February 2012
The Carnival, or Mardi Gras, celebrations in Madeira take the form of a great parade of floats the Saturday before Shrove Tuesday and remain an essentially folk festival.
Groups with thousands of participants flood the main streets of Funchal with music and contagious enjoyment.
This is a week of healthy madness that invades the hotels, bars and clubs, turning them into permanent parties. In an atmosphere of effusive revelry there are surprising examples of creativity and imagination and there is no shortage of daring caricatures in the Cortejo Trapalhão costume parade on Shrove Tuesday.
Flower Festival
From 19th to 25th April 2012
Celebrating spring and the wealth of flora it brings us every year, the city of Funchal is once again the stage for this sumptuous spectacle that will please both the eyes and nose.
On Saturday morning, thousands of youngsters will take part in the Children's Parade, each carrying a flower to place in a mural known as the "Wall of Hope", located in Praça do Município. Doves will be released to mark the end of the wall's construction and there will also be a show for the children.
Sunday brings another dazzling event: the Grand Flower Parade. Hundreds of flower-themed floats and characters will make their way through the city in lavish style to the sound of music in keeping with the Festival, displaying arrangements of many different species of flower typical to the island and leaving soft and ephemeral perfumes in their wake.
The Flower Festival, one of the Islands' most colourful celebrations, is more than just a tribute to the flowers of the Madeira Islands. It provides the opportunity to keep genuine Madeiran traditions alive and transforms the city of Funchal, for a few days, into a magnificent stage for all kinds of artistic and cultural expression.
Festival of the Atlantic
From 08th to 29th June 2012
The Atlantic Festival will be kicking off summer in the Madeira Islands, combining many different initiatives throughout the whole of June. Of particular note are the Madeira Firework Festival and the entertainment planned in the lower town of Funchal, with the Start of Summer Shows, the Classic Motor Show and the Madeira Music Festival being this year's new additions.
The Madeira Firework Festival comprises four pyromusical displays taking place at 22:30 on Saturdays, as four Portuguese companies battle it out for the trophy, which is decided by public vote. Votes can be cast over the Internet or using voting urns placed in strategic locations around the city as well as in hotels. Each display will last for approximately 20 minutes and the musical accompaniment will be broadcast live by a regional radio station.
Madeira Wine Rally
From 02nd to 04th August 2012
The Madeira Wine Rally is known as one of the most important competitions of the European Rally Championship and of course, considered the most spectacular in Madeira.
Some of the most outstanding names in the world of intercontinental car racing usually participate in this rally, many times with the intention of testing their newest acquisitions. Thousands of people gather in the mountain sites of Madeira looking for the best areas in order to enjoy the cars in their best performance.
For three days, the competitors will drive along the narrow and winding roads of Madeira island, thrilling the public with their squill.
For further information: http://www.ralivm.com/
Monte Festival
From 14th to 15th August 2012
This is considered the main religious folk festival in the region and it is also commemorated wherever in the world Madeiran immigrants are to be found.
The Church “Igreja da Nossa Senhora do Monte”, (Our Lady of the Mount), patron saint of Madeira, is also very popular with pilgrims who come here to pray or fulfil vows by the tomb of Emperor Karl I of Austria. Karl I died in 1922 at Quinta do Monte, now called Quinta Jardins do Imperador or Quinta of the Emperor’s Gardens.
It is a lively celebration lasting two days and transforms the romantic, picturesque parish of Monte into one of the busiest places in Madeira, full of traditional food and drink stalls and plenty of music.
Madeira Wine Festival
From 26th August to 02nd September 2012
In the centre of Funchal there are light, sound and folk shows connected to traditional wine-making.
In Câmara de Lobos the festival begins with the live grape harvest. The picking of the grapes, the pickers’ parade, treading the grapes and the whole ritual of a typical Madeira folk celebration are enjoyed by all.
Surrender to the charms of an island that exhales energy and inspires emotion and adventure. For a week, Madeira promotes the 2nd edition of Nature Festival and celebrates its best, among its visitors.
On land, on air or on sea, the choices are plenty and everybody can experience activities, offering a multiplicity range, designed for all age groups.
From 10th to 17th November 2012
The 7 th edition of Funchal International Cinema Festival, FICF-Madeira, takes place at Baltazar Dias Municipal Theatre, in November. The main objective of the FICF is the dissemination of quality cinematography unknown to the public of Madeira.
For further information: http://www.funchalfilmfest.com/
Funchal transforms itself into a crib of real life proportions, the streets become decorated with multi-coloured flowers and lights of all sizes, forming shapes and figures allusive to the season. In the streets and squares, everyone partakes in the sound of the contagious music of the concerts, the performances of the philharmonic bands and of the folklore groups, in addition to the Christmas exhibitions, authentic living portraits of Madeiran traditions.
In Madeira, the preparations for “A Festa” ( the Party), are lived with special enthusiasm, which is the nickname that the Madeirans have given to identify Christmas as their party par excellence. They commence at the beginning of December with the setting up of the lapinha and/or crib and with the confection of various delicacies and pastries, namely the famous honey cake, corn bread, homemade liqueurs and the preparation of the meat in wine and garlic, which is one of the most famous culinary dishes of Madeira.
Another living tradition of this season is the celebration of the 9 Childbirth Masses, which take place at dawn to announce the Birth of the Boy Jesus, accompanied by hymns sung by locals, normally in churchyards, filled with Christmas decorations and where traditional drink and food typical of the season is offered to those present.
On 23rd December the traditional Market Night Party celebration is held, where the Madeirans do their last-minute Christmas shopping and where one can savour the various traditional snacks and drinks of the season.
After the Christmas commemorations the high spirits continue, in anticipation of the New Year Festivities with the famous fireworks display, officially recognized by the Guinness World Records, in 2006, as the greatest display of fireworks in the world. This magnificent scenario, of rare beauty, is simply unique, with thousands of multi-coloured lamps decorating the amphitheatre of Funchal, transforming it into a grandiose stage. As the clock strikes twelve, on 31st December, the sky is lit up with colour, light and hope in a new year that is just beginning.
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