On the occasion of the celebration of carnivals, the following recommendations are offered for an adequate writing of the news related to these festivities:
1. The carnaval and the carnivalsupper case and lower case
The word carnaval and its plural form carnivals are written with a lowercase initial when they refer to the popular festival, except if they are part of a proper name. This happens in general with the denominations in which these terms are associated with the name of the city in which the celebration is celebrated. In this case, the initial capital letter can be used: Rio de Janeiro Carnival.
Is written Carnavalwith a capital letter, when referring to the three day period preceding the beginning of Lent.
2. The Burial of the Sardine
The party with which the end of this period is celebrated in many places is the Burial of the Sardinewhich is written with lowercase initials.
3. The samba y the samba
Although generally the term samba It is used as a feminine noun, its masculine form is also valid and frequently used.
4. The term sambodromo is well formed in Spanish
The word sambodromowith which the facilities for the parades of the samba schools in the Brazilian carnivals are designated, is not yet included in the dictionary of the Royal Academy, but it is in some usage such as the Dictionary of current Spanishfrom Seco, Andrés and Ramos. It is a well-formed termwith the same pattern as rockódromowhich does collect the DLE, and it does not need to be italicized or enclosed in quotation marks. The same can be said of cumbiódromoscene of parades in Barranquilla (Colombia), and of corsódromo.
5. Los blocks and the accomplices
In the information referring to the Brazilian carnivals, mention is often made of the blocks, groups that participate in the parades. The closest translation into Spanish is accomplices; but, if you choose to use the original term in Portuguese, it is appropriate to write it in italics because it is a foreign term. In several South American countries, carnival parades are called corsicanas indicated by the Dictionary of Americanisms.
6. The voice candombe, his tilde
The woolly form candombe (and not the sharp candombé) is the appropriate one to refer to a “dance with a very lively rhythm, of African origin, still very popular in certain carnivals in South America”, as indicated by the academic dictionary, and, more generally, to “a joyous party and bustling’ in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, as indicated by the Dictionary of Americanisms.