THE MADEIRA FLOWER FESTIVAL | FEATURE
The festival actually started its life as the Rose Cotillion( Ball of the Rose), an exhibition of flowers that took place in 1955 at Ateneu Comercial do Funchal. This was a great success and in the ensuing years, the event changed its name to Flower Festival. Then in 1979, which was the International Year of Children, the Madeira Tourism Board decided to enhance the event and instigated the now traditional children’ s walk to the Town Hall Square in order to build the‘ Wall of Hope’. Other festivities and celebrations were also added including the flower parade, the floral competitions – shop window and blooming gardens, and musical displays.
Now, impressive floral carpets are created by Madeiran‘ artists’( local volunteers) and these are strategically displayed along the main streets of Funchal. Every year, there are performances by folk groups, classical music concerts and variety shows in various locations around the city. However, it is in the Float Parade where the Madeiran people’ s artistry is most evident.
Every year there is a theme and for 2012, it was‘ An anthem to Madeira in Blossom’. The event started on Saturday morning, 19th April, with the Children’ s Parade, where hundreds of children, dressed for the occasion, went to the Municipal Square( Largo do Municipio), each holding a flower and lined up to create a beautiful wall of flowers-‘ The Wall of Hope’. At the end hundreds of doves were released in a call for world peace.
The following day, on Sunday afternoon, the main street of Funchal’ s downtown, Avenida do Mar, was filled with music and colour, with a splendid parade involving nine symbolic floats and over a thousand participants. Each group wore costumes festooned with creative floral decorations and danced to the sound of graceful music alongside dancers performing exciting choreographies. More than half of the participants were children aged between 5-12 years old.
As well as the Main Parade, there was a Flower Exhibition in Largo da Restauração, where the flower arrangements made by different school groups were displayed, and where an artist worked on her paintings featuring flowers. Alongside the main artery of Funchal, Avenida Arriaga, you were able to see how the floral carpets are actually constructed and also visit the Flower Market, which has displays of a wide range of plants and flower bulbs to take home.
As always, Funchal was very much alive, with the participation of folk and ethnic groups who, through traditional music and dance, presented the traditions, habits and customs of Madeira.
The Flower Festival of Madeira has increasingly attracted attention in recent years, and its importance as a tourist attraction has granted it an extraordinary reputation in the international and national tourism domain. It is the perfect time to enjoy to the full the outstanding beauty of Madeira, which is already well known for its spectacular nature, its rich culture and warm hospitality of its people.
| www. madeira-life. net | Summer 2012 | 25