Although I was raised in an anti-carnival environment, where everyone screws up their noses and declares that all carnival fans are either dumb or drunk (or both), I decided to finally cut with the stereotypes and try out Dutch carnival myself.
Starting early March, the south of Holland transforms into a mysterious land: spidermen, bananas, witches and admirals flood the streets, laughing, singing, cheering and drinking. And not only the people, also the city itself changes: red, yellow and green, the colours of carnival, are decorating all of Maastricht.
From the train station, small groups steadily pour into the city centre; like ants following each other on the way to the sugar. Pubs and bars are playing music, cheerful people chat on streets, and stalls sell carnival food like waffles and fries (not exactly carnival food, but still strongly connected with it).
At night, the younger generation parties, sometimes 5 days in a row – that demands training!!! The locals usually start with carnival celebrations the weekend preceeding carnival, whereas sensation seeking travellers mainly come to the major event: the procession. The most decorative wagons and best dressed up groups join a walk through Maastricht in an hour long flow of colourful fun. Parents with their children, young students and pensioners altogether enjoy a sunny day of carnival without any drunkenness, rude behaviour or incidents. I was surprised to find such a peaceful and joyful atmosphere, and more happily than I expected, I joined the party.
It’s amazing how much effort people put into their costumes: groups of friends dress up together following a chosen theme and preparing for hours, and most carnival fans spend lots of money and creativity on an original outfit – because everyone wants to get complimented on their beautiful disguise. Delighted by all those wonderful outfits, my favourite certainly was a little boy dressed up as a shower! Hilarious!
Maastricht most certainly infected me with the carnival fever, and luckily I could erase my carnival stereotype and will look forward to carnival 2012.
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