The purpose of the writing is to analyze the appropriation process of the most deeply rooted popular festival in Panamanian society; I mean the carnival. To this end, the mechanism used by the hegemonic class to take over the almost exclusive celebration of the popular sectors is described. The function of the new celebration model imposed by the elite and the role of the dispossessed are explained. The research has focused on the iconographic analysis (photos of the coronation of queens, parades, allegorical cars) literary (poems) and advertising sources (newspapers, magazines, memoirs and gazette of the time).