Carnival

It's that time of the year. Time for carnival. Yet another tradition which has its origins in the Catholic Church. Nowadays, as with many of those traditions, there's no real connection anymore with its religious roots. Maybe the only link is that it's still held 40 days before Easter, at the start of Lent. As the south of Holland has always been Catholic (although through the ages not always openly) and the north Protestant, Carnival is a feast of the south.

For adults, Carnival is about partying, singing silly songs, making silly music, jigging and jogging and drinking. For kids, it's about dressing up. From the start of the year, they talk about 'what they will be' during Carnival. Even though I'm from the south, I'm not really into Carnival. Pieter on the other hand is. Very much so. He's a member of a Carnival Brass Band and he celebrates Carnival for the full four days.
Carnival brass band member Pieter :-)

Friday, Emma and Janne had Carnival at school, so they were allowed to wear their costumes to school. Some mothers are really into making the kids' outfits themselves. This year, I was not one of them (maybe next year). I took Emma and Janne to the shop and they could pick the costume of their choice. I was very happy with their choices, because neither of them chose a princess costume :-)
Pirate girl Janne

Disco girl Emma

That Friday morning, there also was a school Carnival parade, in which all groups participated. The older students had to come up with a theme, matching costumes and preferably also a little act. The little ones simply walked along with the parade. It was great to see all the children having so much fun!
Janne with her buddy Stan

Emma with her teacher, who looks fantastic in her Mega Mindy outfit

Prince Carnival and his counsel enjoying the school's parade

Today, the Veldhoven Carnival parade was held. Emma and Janne enjoyed watching it very much. Me too, since it was not too long (45 min. or so), there were very nice floats and groups, and there were only a few advertising vehicles (which are very boring).
One of the nice floats/groups of the parade

Afterwards, the confetti was even more fun than the parade!