(Oranjestad)—November 11 2025 has once again officially marked the beginning of Aruba’s wonderful Carnaval season. The Carnaval season in Aruba is a unique opportunity to experience the cultural diversity of the Island with exciting parades, breathtaking costumes and a joyous atmosphere to be shared with visitors and locals alike.
The first signs of the Carnaval celebrations took place back in 1921, when many of the social clubs were having celebrations with costumes. These parties were mainly elite European-Style balls and costumed parties made to celebrate seasonal festivities. After a few years, the Americans in San Nicolas who were working in the Lago Oil Refinery introduced their own Euro-American style to the festivities. These festivities were mainly taking place around Halloween, Christmas and Carnaval, becoming the first few steps into the celebrations we know and love today.
In the following years, the Lago Oil Refinery started to reach higher levels of employment, with most of their recruits coming from Caribbean-English islands like Trinidad, Jamaica and British Guyana. These Caribbean immigrants were among the first to organize a parade in San Nicolas for the victory achieved during the Second World War. These were the immigrants who enriched Aruba with the Trinidadian style of Carnaval.
The third era of the Aruban Carnaval began when the native Aruban and English groups joined to plan the first public carnival that would be island wide. Hosted by the oldest social club of Aruba, the Tivoli social club, the representatives had meetings in order to coordinate their efforts towards a single grand parade in Oranjestad, combining floats, steel bands and costumed dancers. They also organized the first Carnaval Queen Election.
The custom of having two organized grand parades began in 1957, the first being in San Nicolas and the second in Oranjestad. After 8 years, the Calypso and Roadmarch became an integral part of the carnival season when the Calypso competitions were introduced.
The Carnaval we know now started during the fourth era, which started in the year 1966. This era saw the establishment of the Aruban Carnaval Foundation and the establishment of the lighting parade.
Today, our Carnival has grown into one of the largest in the Caribbean with a month-long schedule of parades, queen elections and activities.
Even though we won’t begin to see parades until January 2026, this month will already see activities take place, like the ‘Prince and Pancho’ competition this Saturday. The Prince’s main role is to introduce the Carnival Queen during the parades. The Pancho’s role is to be the Prince’s side kick. The Prince and Pancho competition centers on the charisma of competing participants—men paired in duos (a prince and his side kick pancho) cracking jokes and proving their ability to create great ambience.
For more Carnaval related news, keep up with Aruba Today’s coverage during the Carnaval Season.
