Carnival!

Before the fasting of Lent is a last gasp of over indulgence. Some call it Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, the last day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season leading up to Easter. In Malta, it is a week-long celebration, “Carnival!”.

We chose the Children’s Parade out of all the events at Carnival this year for two reasons. One is our great grandnephews are here visiting Malta with their parents and we wanted them to see the floats. The other is Dana and I love childrens’ events. Given the choice of movies shown in brick and mortar theaters we pick animated childrens’ movies like “Inside Out.” And we have spent many Saturday afternoons at childrens’ theater performances like “Peter and the Wolf.” At Christmas we have seen “The Nutcracker” so many times, always with delight. Our gray hair stands out in these audiences filled with children and their young parents. But it is such a thrill to watch the children watching the show.

One of my favorite costumes in Malta was “The Chef.” We only saw little girls wearing this white chef’s hat and jacket with a lacy white skirt complete with checked apron and wooden spoon. We saw many knights, musketeers, Pierrots, ladies with hoop skirts and giant hats, Tyrolean hikers, and one little pink drummer.

And youngsters participated in the parade in more elaborate costumes.

The parade floats were designed to WOW kids.

This was during the day, mid-afternoon and the real festivities get going at night with loud music, bright lights and general hedonism. But we did see adults in costume. Some easy to identify, others not so much.

We ended the day with gelato and toddled home.

And, finally, introducing our Great and Grand Nephews, Sebastian and Henry Running…

Photo by John Running