FLOWER FESTIVAL
During one week, usually in April or May, Madeira Islands host the Flower festival by celebrating the arrival of spring and the exuberant blossoming of flowers typical of this season, a tribute to the special connexion between the people of Madeira and flowers, a splendorous event with the profusion of its beautiful flowers that fill the streets of downtown Funchal with sweet scents, colour and reverie.
The festivities start with the opening of the Flower market, which is part of the event since 2007, an opportunity to get to know in first hand more on the countless existing ornamental and floral species in a picturesque and traditional setting, where the saleswomen - the “florists of Madeira” - are dressed in regional costumes. The Flower Exhibition is held in the very centre of Funchal, at Largo da Restauração, and displays some of the finest flower specimens, cultivated in Madeira. The flowers exhibited are evaluated under various categories and the best are awarded prizes by a panel of experts.
The abundance of Madeira flora has greatly contributed to the establishing of this art form. This traditional creation of flower carpets thrives a little bit throughout the island and had its origins in the decoration of religious processions. Due to its undeniable beauty and detail, for the past several years the flower carpets have been reproduced on the streets for the Flower Festival, establishing alongside the floral sculptures, a major contribution to the magnificence of the city’s decorations, as their careful construction is shared and admired by visiting tourists. These wonderful pieces of floral art are displayed in the central walkways of Avenida Arriaga.
On Saturday morning the Children's Parade takes place, in which hundreds of children, dressed for the occasion, parade to the Municipal Square (Praça do Município) to build a beautiful flower mural symbolically named “Wall of Hope”.
This initiative, which has been held for over three decades, combines childhood innocence and the delicacy of flowers in a ceremony calling for peace in the world. Each child takes a flower and the ceremony usually culminates with a release of doves and a children's show.
On Sunday afternoon, the streets of Funchal city centre are once again filled with music, colour and soft aromas for the sumptuous float parade, which harmoniously combines numerous floral species with blooming decorations full of creativity. The Flower Festival Float Parade, held since 1979, is one of the most striking and eagerly anticipated events of the entire festival, for tourists and residents alike. This event is known for the splendour of the floats and costumes of the hundreds of participants, mostly children, richly adorned with numerous, varied and magnificent floral species, parading along a planned route to the sound of festive musical themes and performing both simple and elaborate choreographies.
