Carnival (carnaval) Dutch style!

It's that time of the year again, when for 4 days the world is turned upside down - Nijmegen becomes "Knotsenburg", and the burgemeester (lord mayor) & local council are replaced by (this year) Prins Johan I & his band of merry makers. Yep, its carnaval, and no, it doesn't only happen in Rio and New Orleans!!

As of yesterday (exactly 40 days - not counting Sundays!) before Easter, especially in the southern areas of the Netherlands, and in some areas of Belgium and Germany (mostly the Catholic areas) the Carnaval Committee does its hardest to prevent anyone being serious. Alot of towns and villages hold parades of strange, grotesque papier-mache figures on floats, brass bands blast out oompah music, songs are sung, congas are danced, and people dressed in outrageous outfits consume copious amounts of beer :-)) Basically the 4 days are designed as one last orgiastic feast before the "fasting" of the 40 day lent period leading up to Easter.

We just got back from the local parade here in Nijmegen and the photos below give you a bit of an idea. Maybe next year we can celebrate in true style by heading a bit further south and getting ourselves some sort of crazy costume!

Alli xxx