Fiesta de las Colectividades
Rosario, Argentina: Festival Celebrating Immigration
Rosario's Fiesta de las Colectividades in November is the biggest multicultural celebration in Argentina. Join the festival's mind-boggling mix of culture and traditions.
Rosario Fiesta de las Colectividades
The Fiesta de las Colectividadesis held in the first and second weeks of November in Rosario, 300km northwest of Buenos Aires on the Paraná river.
While in many countries men in grey suits scratch their chins and gravely discuss the ‘problem’ of immigration, Rosario’s town hall has, every year for the past 22 years, organised a multicultural extravaganza of a public party in joyous celebration of its history of mass immigration and its self-imposed status as a ‘city of open doors’.
Join the hundreds of thousands of people who flock to the city for the ten day festival period, and you’ll surely understand why those immigrants stayed.
Argentina Eating and Drinking
The festival, like most things in Argentina, has a distinctly Argentine flavour. The Turkish kebabs taste almost exactly like asado served on a stick. The German sausages are nothing if not chorripan. The fish in the Spanish paellas comes straight out of the Paraná river, and even the crema catalana has a suspicious aftertaste of dulce de leche. Pizzas are cooked on the parrilla and overloaded with mozzarella cheese, and the pasta is several minutes past the al dente that Italians insist on. If you’re after a beer that’s not Quilmes you’re best off getting on the first flight to Munich.
Tango Show
And the final number of the final act, on the main stage before the midnight procession of the Rosarina Queen and the firework display, is nothing other than Tango en Altura by the home-grown Ballet Municipal de Danzas Argentinas. The great body of cultural diversity celebrated throughout the festival is, in the end, firmly zipped up inside a large Argentine leather bag.
Fiesta de las Colectividades: Essential Info
The Fiesta de las Colectividades, now in its 23rd year, takes place in the first and second weeks of November. It is a ten-day festival, with events starting on Friday and culminating on Sunday a week later with the election of a Rosarina Queen and a huge firework display.
Stalls are open 9pm-1am Sunday to Thursday and 9pm-3am Friday and Saturday in the Parque Nacional a la Bandera, on the Costanera just below the Monumento Nacional a la Bandera. Entry is free and food is plentiful and cheap. A full programme of events at the festival itself can be found on the festival website.
The event is organised by the City Hall, in conjunction with Ente Turístico Rosario and the Asociación de Colectividades Extranjeras de Rosario. Several other events, including a Festival of Jazz and a celebration of the Day of Tradition, are often timed to coincide.
