From Friday to today, Tuesday, has been carnival time in Malta! Whenever I have been in Valletta there is an air of excitement with children dressed up, groups of lavishly costumed dancers, extravagant floats and grotesque walking puppets.
I haven't gone out of my way to find carnival. On Friday, I went up to Valletta for an event that was supposed to happen in the library but it was postponed because of carnival and so I caught some of the dancing in Freedom square. The costumes are over the top! Exaggerated shoulders, massive head pieces, huge props and voluminous skirts. It seems that the dancing groups from each village compete vigorously but I suspect that it is not the dancing that distinguishes them (this is mostly a bit like line dancing) but the costumes.
On Saturday, I had to change buses in Valletta to go to il-Majjistral park. The buses were only going as far as Floriana because the bus terminal was being used for the huge floats taking part in the procession that evening. I had to wait for a while at the Floriana granaries and it was great to see all the children dressed in beautiful costumes and shyly walking through with their families. There seem to be stock costumes - red Spanish ladies, pink princesses and hooped court ladies for the girls; Roman soldiers, courtiers, policemen and fantasy heros like spiderman and batman for the boys. Each day since then, I have loved seeing costumed children on the crowded buses. As the weekend wore on, I noticed the children became less shy!
On Sunday, I stayed home but still found carnival. I strolled down to the market in the morning to get my vegetables and fish and found the square set up with chairs in a big circle and a group of dancers standing ready to perform so I slipped into a front row seat to wait for the action. The dancers were waiting for mass to finish in the church before the show started. The sun was shining that day and it was lovely sitting in the warmth!
The first group did belly dancing although they were well covered against the winter weather and perhaps Moorish decadence. The costumes were not so extravagant as in Valletta and the dancing was more varied and interesting. Some teenagers did a medlay around the Beatles songs, particularly 'Mr Postman' and there were a few groups who were dressed in Casino mode with Lady Luck style images. The biggest contingent were the local Marsaxlokk group who burst on with great energy and lots of noise.
Later, at the other end of the market, I caught a large jazz band dressed in clown costumes and all through the afternoon I could hear the bands performing from my flat where I had the front verandah door open for the first time since winter started. I think Carnival celebrates the end of winter - there is certainly a feeling of relief around and anticipation of the coming warmth.
When I went up to Valletta again on Monday, all the massive floats were set up in the buspark outside City gate and I got a great series of photos. The photo that heads the post is of one of the gentler floats. Many are massively grotesque and show gorillas, octopus tentacles encircling the head of the statue of liberty, pirates and assorted figures of horror. There are also beautiful masked figures, animals and musical figures.
Valletta itself was crowded and in the squares down Republic street I found the smaller float figures that are carried by one person walking inside. These are fun and often show delightful welcoming musical figures as well as grotesque devils riding on friendly frogs or Noddy cars. Again the costumed dancers and the jester band players were walking up and down the street or chatting in small groups and the costumed children were showing signs of wear and tear!
I was going to a lecture at the Auberge de Castille which I'll write about in my next post and by the time that finished at about 7.00pm, the rain had started again and it was difficult to get out of City gate because people were trying to find shelter in the arcades. I don't know what impact the rain has had on the floats and it has been raining all day today, the last day of carnival. But Carnival will certainly go down on my calendar for next year.
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