Thread: carrozas y comparsas

¿Alguna idea de cómo decir esto en inglés? creo que siendo una costumbre más bien latina....bueno, espero por sus sugerencias...gracias anticipadas...

Otra ayuda que necesito y es que no sé qué quiere decir exactamente es esto...


Las actividades se desarrollaron principalmente en las distritales educativas fronterizas con Haití.

Any ideas?

Hola Exx. En español si sé lo que son las carrozas y las comparsas. De hecho, estamos en medio de carnavales y son la orden del día.
Había encontrado float para carroza pero el webster no tiene esa acepción de carroza.

Lo que no sé exactamente lo que quiere decir es lo segundo.

en las distritales educativas fronterizas con Haití

no tengo la menor idea de qué es. el contexto habla de un programa de educación que se implementa en esos lugares.

Hi, girls! Have a look at this definition:

A comparsa (conga de comparsa) is the band which plays a conga during a Cuban Carnival celebration. It consists of a large group of dancers dancing and traveling on the streets, followed by a Carrosa (carriage) where the musicians play. The Comparsa is a development of African processions where groups of devotees followed a given saint or deity during a particular religious celebration. (http://www.answers.com/topic/comparsa-1).

Thought it might help

Thanks Guadalupe for your contribution!
Although I know the definition of comparsa and carroza, I would like to find an exact translation in English for both words. So far, I think I will translate as carriage and dancing groups which is not quite the translation because the comparsa specifically is a group of people, dressed in carnival clothes dancing, accompanied by a music band.
The carroza is a high and large carriage with fancy garments and recorded music on, to which people in the carriage, dance. These people also with fancy clothes (sometimes very few and small clothes ).
"We're in the middle of carnivals, carrozas and comparsas now here in Havana"...

Sandra: Te envié esta definición porque es de un sitio en inglés y me pareció interesante, ya que lo explicaron propios nativos en su idioma.

En Disney hay carrozas con los personajes... Sé que es algo distinto... Nosotros tenemos a Río de Janeiro (en Brasil) y también en Gualeguaychú (Provincia de Entre Ríos, Argentina) hay comparsas en carnaval. Supongo que estas últimas sí son parecidas a las que conocerás vos.

Saludos y suerte con este trabajo,

Originally Posted by SandraT

Thanks Guadalupe for your contribution!
Although I know the definition of comparsa and carroza, I would like to find an exact translation in English for both words. So far, I think I will translate as carriage and dancing groups which is not quite the translation because the comparsa specifically is a group of people, dressed in carnival clothes dancing, accompanied by a music band.
The carroza is a high and large carriage with fancy garments and recorded music on, to which people in the carriage, dance. These people also with fancy clothes (sometimes very few and small clothes ).
"We're in the middle of carnivals, carrozas and comparsas now here in Havana"...

Hola amigos!

Hi Sandra. If I could see a picture of a one of your carrozas I might be able to better tell you what we would call it in the U.S. but I agree that it would probably be a "float". We would call a carnaval a parade here and the "high and large carriage with fancy garments and recorded music on, to which people in the carriage, dance" is a trailer pulled by a vehicle and that is what we call a float (I think it is called a float because the trailer, the wheels and tow vehicle are so covered with papier maché and flowers that you cannot see them and the platform appears to "float" down the street).

I have seen comparsas in the national carnaval of Costa Rica as they danced through the streets in the ornamental and skimpy wuu juu!!, costumes and also at private parties where they are dressed uniformly. The ones I've seen don't play musical instruments themselves nor do they have a musical band but dance to recorded music at the parties and to the live music provided by the many bands during the carnaval. The best description for a comparsa is a "dance group"

" en las distritales educativas fronterizas con Haití."


Doesn't this mean "in the education districts along the border (bordering) with Haiti".

Thank you all my friends for your help.

I had also found the float as the definition and it does make sense if we take your explanation into consideration, Vicente. At the end I translated the words as carriages and customed groups because just dance groups didn't seem enough to describe a comparsa since as I said they're accompanied by a band, but they are all dressed alike or similar.
here's one link and although not from Cuba, it's the same structure.
http://www.carnaval.com.do/fotos/sec...-de-sectur.jpg
Si, Guadalupe, las de Brasil y Argentina son parecidas, o sea el mismo concepto. Gracias nuevamente, amiga.
and here's one from a comparsa, although you can't see the band in this one.
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/UserFi...comparsa-g.jpg
and about this

"in the education districts along the border (bordering) with Haiti".

something like this I translated but I have no idea what it means, not even in Spanish. It's related to literacy programs, so I assumed it was something like that...