On Thursday, February 27th, the Arribo of Barcelona moves to Sants! The party will begin at 5.15 p.m. with a drum in the Plaza de Bonet i Muixí, and the arrival of the Carnival King Elon Muska Collonera at 5.45 p.m., in the auditorium of the Cotxeres de Sants. Then, at 6.20 p.m., the Reina Belluga will appear and at 6.30 p.m. the itinerant show will begin, which will end at 7 p.m. with the Taronjada, in front of the Headquarters of the Sants District.

The Arribo, or arrival, always kicks off Carnival festivities in Barcelona, but this year it has a new mission: to bring the festival to every corner of the cosmos. Designed for all audiences, this parade with striking visual elements tells the story of a stratospheric journey featuring irreverence, humour and unrestrained revelry.

Queen Belluga, the global ambassador of Carnival, is alarmed. The planet is besieged by a wave of repression that’s threatening celebrations, culture and freedom of expression. And she’s taken action by devising a plan both far-fetched and brilliant: expand Barcelona’s Carnival beyond the reaches of planet Earth. If she’s able to turn the entire solar system into an endless celebration of music, costumes and colour, the forces of repression will have no choice but to back down.

This interplanetary mission was planned from a secret operations centre on a rooftop near the Cotxeres de Sants, a true clandestine Cape Canaveral where former Lindy Hop dancers are working day and night to get everything ready. The goal? Launch the first Fat Thursday carnival rocket, loaded with coques de llardons pastry cakes, egg botifarra sausage, billions of masks and the unbridled energy of the festivities.

To make it possible, while she was on an official trip to the United States, Queen Belluga arranged a meeting with tycoon Elon Musquito. With a hypnotic dance combining the traditional Catalan corranda genre, samba and Catalan rumba, she brought him under his spell. Bewitched, Musquito agreed to build her an interstellar spaceship, a true marvel of technology designed to turn Carnival into a truly out-of-this-world experience.

The American businessman, still dazed and hypnotised, will make an official stop in Barcelona on Fat Thursday to hand over the keys to this rocket during an event at the Cotxeres-Casinet Auditorium in Sants neighbourhood, where the queen, along with the good company of Barcelona’s carnival gegants, or giant figures, will attend a formally festive ceremony.

This will be an Arribo unlike any other. That’s because, for the first time ever, it will also be a Marxo, or departure. Following a countdown, the take-off will light up the Barcelona sky and set new intergalactic trends.

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the first festival space mission in history! Come with your coloured sunglasses, old X-rays, welding masks or anything that will protect your eyes from the brilliant behemoth that will soar into infinity.

Welcome to the Cosmic Carnival!