By Fumei Shirokuro
Even though this issue is a Valentine’s Issue, I have decided to turn the topic a little and write a whole different article! Namely an article about the craziness around the Catholic holiday that we celebrate here, named Carnival.
Like I said, Carnival is a Catholic holiday. Or at least the Church decided to make this a Catholic holiday yeeeeeeears ago. Just to keep the people under the Church or something like that. But I’m not here to teach you guys some Catholic history. Heck, most of that I can’t even seem to recall correctly.
The reason why there is Carnival, is so that the lower classes could relieve stress in the past. So that’s why they created these three days of madness. After that the Church took it over and made it a Catholic holiday.
Carnival is a festival that has been going on for the centuries. It begins with three days (well in the past it was three days), which occur from Sunday to Tuesday, and then after those three days, Ash Wednesday would occur, which is the first day of fast. But that’s a thing of the past. Nowadays, Carnival mostly begins on Friday for the elementary, middle and high scholars. On Saturday, people will already dress up and in some villages or cities a Carnival Parade will occur and people will already celebrate Carnival on Saturday evening!
So to put everything in a row, during this three day (or more) festival, we dress up, watch parades, and attend parties! So let me start explain the dressing up.
Like I said, Carnival is a Catholic holiday. Or at least the Church decided to make this a Catholic holiday yeeeeeeears ago. Just to keep the people under the Church or something like that. But I’m not here to teach you guys some Catholic history. Heck, most of that I can’t even seem to recall correctly.
The reason why there is Carnival, is so that the lower classes could relieve stress in the past. So that’s why they created these three days of madness. After that the Church took it over and made it a Catholic holiday.
Carnival is a festival that has been going on for the centuries. It begins with three days (well in the past it was three days), which occur from Sunday to Tuesday, and then after those three days, Ash Wednesday would occur, which is the first day of fast. But that’s a thing of the past. Nowadays, Carnival mostly begins on Friday for the elementary, middle and high scholars. On Saturday, people will already dress up and in some villages or cities a Carnival Parade will occur and people will already celebrate Carnival on Saturday evening!
So to put everything in a row, during this three day (or more) festival, we dress up, watch parades, and attend parties! So let me start explain the dressing up.
You could see dressing up just like Cosplay or Halloween for three to four days. You can dress up as you want. Some people dress-up very sexy while others dress-up weird or even Crossplay! Which means guys dressing up like girls or girls dressing up like guys! You never know what somebody might dress up as. Some dress in the common stuff, which are Indians, clowns, cowboys, princesses, etc. While others are more creative and make their costumes themselves or do a group costume! Like some groups dress-up like M&Ms, while like I said others make themselves. It all depends on how creative the person is. In the past I have been all kind of different things. I have been a Joker, Red Riding Hood, Hippie, Eskimo, Gryffindor student, Butterfly, Indian, Witch, Army gal, Gypsy, Hostess, Sleepyhead, and I think I have been much more. But on the count of my hand this is what I can remember. I started creating my own Carnival outfits during High School. During that time, I have been the Butterfly, Gryffindor Student, Hostess, and Sleepyhead. So yeah, I have been some things during the past years, probably more than I can remember.
So that’s enough of the dressing-up bit. Besides the dressing-up part, we are having Carnival Parades all through the province. During these parades, Guilds show off what they have created from November until now. Most guilds will also have an act during the parade. Last year there was this Guild who made a Strip Club; let me first begin with ‘Strip’ means something entirely different in Dutch, because strip is the Dutch meaning for comic! So this Guild made a little pun on the Strip part, because in the Dutch language strip ALSO means the same in the english language. Get where I’m going guys? So they made this funny looking strip club, were they started of with “sexy” looking girls (well not really that sexy, just obnoxious looking), an announcer, and male and female hostesses who would pull bystanders into the act. Then during the ‘strip’-act, the curtains open and Astrix and Obelix enter the stage. They will be all like: that’s not a strip act, this is how you should do it. And in the end Obelix will strip and do a pole dance. So well it was just awesome to see it!
So these parades are most of the time existing out of wagons or guilds who have made a little twist or pun on something. Like with the Strip Club!
So that was the dressing and parade part. As finally, there is the party part! Well I think that’s kind of obvious. During these days there will be lots of loud Carnivalish music (which is all Dutch, so I will not bother you guys with it too much. But just for you guys’ sakes, here is a little example of what kind of music you can expect during these parties. And well a party isn’t a party without drinks (and alcohol). Nothing much to say about these parties! It’s lots of loud funny music and lots of dancing, and obviously crazy-dressed people! But that’s all part of the plan!
So that’s enough of the dressing-up bit. Besides the dressing-up part, we are having Carnival Parades all through the province. During these parades, Guilds show off what they have created from November until now. Most guilds will also have an act during the parade. Last year there was this Guild who made a Strip Club; let me first begin with ‘Strip’ means something entirely different in Dutch, because strip is the Dutch meaning for comic! So this Guild made a little pun on the Strip part, because in the Dutch language strip ALSO means the same in the english language. Get where I’m going guys? So they made this funny looking strip club, were they started of with “sexy” looking girls (well not really that sexy, just obnoxious looking), an announcer, and male and female hostesses who would pull bystanders into the act. Then during the ‘strip’-act, the curtains open and Astrix and Obelix enter the stage. They will be all like: that’s not a strip act, this is how you should do it. And in the end Obelix will strip and do a pole dance. So well it was just awesome to see it!
So these parades are most of the time existing out of wagons or guilds who have made a little twist or pun on something. Like with the Strip Club!
So that was the dressing and parade part. As finally, there is the party part! Well I think that’s kind of obvious. During these days there will be lots of loud Carnivalish music (which is all Dutch, so I will not bother you guys with it too much. But just for you guys’ sakes, here is a little example of what kind of music you can expect during these parties. And well a party isn’t a party without drinks (and alcohol). Nothing much to say about these parties! It’s lots of loud funny music and lots of dancing, and obviously crazy-dressed people! But that’s all part of the plan!