Let the Carnivale Festivities Begin!

I don't even know how to properly describe Carnivale in Maastricht. As a quick summary I've been saying it's somewhat of a mix between Halloween, Mardi Gras, and any wild dance party in the streets times infinity. It's like nothing I have ever experienced before and it was amazing. It's a Catholic tradition to get all bad behaviors out before Lent begins. In Maastricht, the Carnivale capital of the Netherlands, it officially starts on Saturday and goes until Tuesday at Midnight (Fat Tuesday). Saturday was pretty low key, and I was only there for part of Sunday, but it was so colorful, crazy, and fun, I loved it.

Friday began with a pre-carnivale party at the local international bar. I dressed up as a cat, but sadly lost one of my ears before the night was over. Was a fun night though! It was one of the girls from California, Catherines, 22nd Birthday at midnight so we celebrated and had a grand ole time.

The birthday girl on the right

Cuties

Saturday is the first day with real Carnivale festivities, but it doesn't actually officially start until Sunday. However, there was a huge parade where the Prince of Carnivale was officially given the key to Maastricht and then he put some flower wreath on this statue as some sort of symbol. I didn't grasp everything, since it was all in Dutch but it was still a lot of fun to be a part of. The best part was the pounds of confetti everyone was throwing everywhere. I definitely found a new love for the fun of confetti.

The decorations get wild

The official colors of Carnivale in Maastricht are Red, Yellow, and Green so they were everywhere and anywhere and I decided to dress up in those colors as my costume.

Bagpipes!

The prince himself!

Loving the Confetti

Sunday marked the official start at 12:11 when there were 11 canon booms. People gathered in the main square of town and waited, then everyone either headed off to be in the parade, or headed to the bars to start drinking. Everyone was out, from new born babies to 90 year old grand parents, and everyone was dressed up in the most elaborate costumes. It was inspiring.

Not sure why there is a giant paper mache figure hung in the main square, but its Carnivale, anything goes

More giant Figures

Shooting off the canon! Carnivale has officially begun!

We wandered around and marveled at all the costumes wandering what to do next, then all of the sudden dark clouds loomed and it began to snow! It was crazy, at first we took shelter, then we decided to live it up and dance because there was crazy loud Carnivale music blasting from every place. Dancing in the snow is almost better than dancing in the rain because you don't get sopping wet and you keep your blood flowing so you don't freeze either! It was so much fun.

Snow?

Eventually it stopped snowing and we saw some of the parade, but the parade wasn't as exciting as running around the streets and running into random bands playing fun music so we explored some more, but not before getting this tasty morsel.

It's called Olliebollen and it was to die for.

Then, the sun came out! Which caused for immediate celebration and dance moves galore.

Lovin the sun.

Unfortunately, shortly after I had to leave so that I could grab my suitcase and head to the train station so that I could go to Italy. It was a short Carnivale experience but it was so much fun and I'm really glad that I got to be in Maastricht for it.