Carnival in May in Montenegro
January 31, 2007
Budva NGO “Festadjuni”, which cherishes the tradition of the masked ball festivities and promotes coastal spirit, will participate this year too on numerous carnival fiestas, starting from Croatia and Slovenian, where they will have the performance in the middle of February.
One carnival group will take part in the big Rijeka carnival, where in the procession they will present themselves with the mask “Beauties and the beasts”. The other group with the mask “Budva’s male and female trumpeters” is imagined as an animation of the former life in the old Budva.
As in the previous years, NGO “Festadjuni” this year too, in cooperation with the municipal institutions will organize at the beginning of May a big international Budva’s carnival, which at the same time will mark the beginning of the summer season.
The participation was confirmed by several hundreds of masked participants of the carnival groups from numerous countries from Europe. Beside the guests from the area of former Yugoslavia the carnival will welcome the groups from Austria, Ireland, Italy, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, and Albania.
Related Links > http://www.visit-montenegro.com
Carribean carnival spirit hits Dominica
January 31, 2007
Caribbean Carnival spirit comes to the island of Dominica this February with Mas Domnik 2007, ‘The Real Mas’. The annual carnival officially started in January but truly kicks-off in February culminating with Jump Up - the National Traditional Carnival Street Party on 19 February 2007 and island wide celebrations on Carnival Tuesday, 20 February 2007.
Carnival (or Masquerade as it can be referred to) is strongly an Afro-French festival. The festival is rooted in the masquerade in which revellers on the streets wore masks to conceal their identity. The African love of colour, costumes, masks and the rhythm of the drumbeat predominantly influence masquerade.
During Carnival, flamboyant shows, dance, drumming competitions and pageantry take place across the island throughout the month. The island comes alive with frenetic activity, from the crowning of Miss Dominica and the Calypso Monarch to awarding the best costume band.
On 21st February 2007 Tewe Vaval is celebrated in the Carib territory and in Dublanc (in the islands north west). This event is held on the afternoon of Ash Wednesday, to symbolically bury or burnt the spirit of Carnival. An effigy of Vaval (the symbolic spirit of the carnival) is burnt at sunset, marking the end of the revelry and the beginning of Lent.
Win a trip to Dominica!
The Dominica Tourist Office is offering travellers the chance to win a holiday to discover Dominica themselves. The prize, for two people, includes a six-day/five-night stay at Calibishie Lodges in Dominica, air travel and transfers. Also included in the prize are selected activities courtesy of Wacky Rollers, JTAS, Anchorage Hotel Whale Watch & Dive Center and Irie Safarie Snorkelling Tours.
To enter, visit the website www.discoverdominica.com and answer a number of simple questions. The competition will run until 31st March 2007.
February is Carnival month in Athens
January 31, 2007
For most visitors, a day or two in Athens is enough. They sightsee their way through the crowds and oppressive heat before sailing south to the islands to recuperate. But the Greek capital offers more than a cliched circuit of temples and eponymous salads.
Arrive in mid-February and you’ll be treated to Carnival, Greek-style, or Apokreas, as it’s officially known here, complete with costumes, jugglers and maypole dancers.
The event kicks off rather quietly on January 28, three weeks before the beginning of Orthodox Lent, and quickly gains momentum, culminating in a four-day festival from February 16 to 19. To take part, one needs little more than a healthy appetite and a costume.
As a point of trivia, it was the Greeks who invented Carnival. While North Americans are more familiar with revellers dancing the samba in Rio and collecting Mardi Gras beads in New Orleans, it was the annual processions, costumes and feasts organized by the ancient Greeks to honour Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy, that was the inspiration for celebrations around the world. These days, however, the Athenian festivities have little to do with mythical gods.
The mood is frenetic and somewhat surreal: It’s the only time of year when bonking passersby on the head with squeaking plastic clubs is not only acceptable, it’s de rigueur. In the narrow, winding alleys of the Plaka district, gregarious locals throw confetti until it’s ankle-deep, and everywhere you turn, Athenians are eating, drinking and making merry.
Get your festive garb at Monastiraki Flea Market. Anything goes during Apokreas, Spiderman suits and Zorro capes included, so there’s no need to agonize over an elaborate outfit. Settle on a cheap, col-ourful mask and take to the streets, dodging the maypole dancers, stilt-walkers and professional tango pairs grooving their way through the city.
When the party atmosphere proves too much, you can always opt for a rare moment of solitude at the Acropolis. It’s low season, after all: The weather is comfortable and cool, the tourists are scant and the temples, for once, are unusually serene.
Where to sleep >
At St. George Lycabettus Hotel, high atop Hill Lycabettus. The hotel is surrounded by the posh boutiques of the Kolonaki district. The staff is surly, but the views of the Acropolis from the rooftop terrace more than compensate. From $260/night. 2 Kleomenous Street, tel 210 7290711-19; http://www.sglycabettus.gr
Where to eat >
At Spondi. The Michelin-starred restaurant serves rich French cuisine prepared with a Greek twist, to wit: roast pork with Myzithra cheese and a fig-and-yogurt sauce. While this may seem like a quirky combo for dinner, the pairing is so decadent, it’s worth the caloric splurge. 5 Pyrronos Street, Pangrati, tel 210 7520658; http://www.spondi.gr
Where to shop >
Monastiraki Flea Market
Trawl for antique jewellery, cool vintage duds and ornate Carnival masks at this daily bazaar. Sunday mornings are especially lively, arrive before 11 a.m. to beat the hordes.
Avissynias Square, Monastiraki (open daily 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
Where to drink >
At Diorofo Cafe. Traditional Greek coffee is thick, strong and best sipped in a charming, neoclassical cafe surrounded by chatty locals. Asthmatics, on the other hand, might want to sip theirs at the local Starbucks; few places in town offer a no-puffing policy. 77 Aiolou Street and Evripidou Street.
Dominica’s Carnival season opens
January 31, 2007
Calypso bands and costumed revelers danced though the narrow lanes of Dominica’s capital as the lush tropical island’s annual Carnival season kicked off.
Thousands of people lined the streets of Roseau over the weekend for the celebration’s opening to shimmy to Caribbean dance beats as masqueraders in ornate sequined costumes and towering headdresses marched past in formation.
Several old-timers said the festival’s opening day wasn’t as impressive as in past years, but Dennis Sushvo, a tourist from the Ukraine, was dazzled.
“This is beautiful! I love it,” Sushvo shouted above the pulsing beat of drums as people wearing the traditional “sensay” costume, a full-body outfit made from vinyl bags and ropes with a face mask, strutted by.
As in many Caribbean nations, Carnival in Dominica is an annual rite of dancing, colorful costumes and tradition. The event took hold after the end of slavery in the region in 1834.
Dominica’s Carnival celebrations will culminate with a band competition on Feb. 19-20. The island is a former British colony of about 70,000 people.
Carnival celebrations at Nadur, Malta
January 31, 2007
Carnival celebrations at Nadur have been established as a main attraction for local and foreign revellers.
The grotesque, macabre, spontaneous carnival is held every night on the five days preceding Ash Wednesday and has retained its uniqueness with the traditional aspects.
This year Carnival at Nadur will be held every night from Friday 16 February till Tuesday 20 February.
In the weeks before carnival, the Nadur local council and its organising committee will plan all details including traffic management, safety measures and cleaning.
This year’s carnival celebrations will be held on Sunday 11 February, at 1.30pm in the main square of Nadur.
The programme includes various competitions, dance groups and some of the best Maltese entertainers including the team Zoo, Sur Gawdenz, Id-Dulli, Joe Demicoli and Augusto Cardinale.
Entrance for this event is free.
On Friday 9 February, the comical show Zoo Comes to Nadur will be held in St Peter and St Paul Square under a big tent.
On Saturday 10 February another two activities will be held – Miss Nadur Carnival 2007 and a rock festival.
Miss Nadur Carnival 2007 contest is organised by the Nadur council and the Kummissjoni Zghazagh Mnarja and will be held at the MBC Theatre, starting at 7pm.
Later on in the evening a rock festival will be held at around 9pm under a big tent in the main square of Nadur.
The Tenth February Under The Tent is a spectacular concert by UK band Boot Led Zepellin, Ira Losco and her band and the group Fire. Tickets for this event are available from various outlets.
On Thursday 15 February at 9pm, a Carnival Costume Party will be held at the Mnarja Band Club with the participation of DJ Joe Spiteri, while on Friday 16 February at 12.30pm, the Children’s Carnival will take place at the Nadur Primary School.
For the first time the Nadur local council is organising an Open Day at the Ta’ Sopu Tower, the Ta’ Kenuna Tower and the wartime shelter at St. Peter and St Paul Square. Everybody will have the opportunity to visit these three historical places on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 February from 9am till 4pm.
Mobile Mardi Gras parades start February 2
January 31, 2007
Mobile’s Mardi Gras parades couldn’t be staged without float builders like Stephen Mussell, who has built a career on the carnival’s demand for rolling showpieces of splashy colors and lights.
His year-round work was seen by an apparent record number of Mobile Mardi Gras revelers last year, an uptick attributed partly to Hurricane Katrina. The port city, with more than 30 parades over the weeks culminating on Fat Tuesday, may benefit again this year as coastal Mississippi’s festivities in Biloxi will remain cut back to one parade due to Katrina damage.
New Orleans, which has long enjoyed the nation’s largest carnival, is also trying to revive its celebration and expects a parade schedule comparable to pre-Katrina levels.
Leon Maisel, president and CEO of the Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, said police estimated more than 1 million attended carnival here in 2006, an apparent record attributed to the Katrina damage to the Mississippi coast and New Orleans. Locals hope many of those visitors will return in February.
Whatever the numbers, Mussell’s 10-member team is turning the floats, most averaging 35 feet in length, into pastel perches for the Mardi Gras organizations, known as krewes, whose members ride them and throw heaps of trinkets, candy, beads, Moon Pies and stuffed animals to thousands lining the streets for two weeks of parading.
Major parades begin Feb. 2 and run through Mardi Gras Day, Feb. 20, giving businesses an economic bonanza. Many reap an entire year’s profit during carnival, if the weather is good.
Historians say the carnival was born in Mobile among the French colonists in the 1700s, but it didn’t really catch on until 1830, when a group of rowdies hit the streets with cowbells and rakes taken from a hardware store. They called themselves the Cowbellion de Rakin Society.
Mobile has about a half-dozen float builders and designers like Mussell whose teams twist chicken wire into dragons, tigers, goofy characters and scenery. Each float has a lighthearted theme.
“To do five parades takes all year,” Mussell said, wearing a paint-splattered sweatshirt while putting the decorative touches on 11 floats parked in a huge warehouse near Mobile’s waterfront.
Mussell, who has been building floats for 29 years, buys gallons of latex house paint, then tints it to “kick it up” before it’s sprayed on. The electrical lighting comes last and is needed because some parades roll at night.
His 22-year-old son, Nathan Mussell, is part of the team. With a history degree from Auburn University, the younger Mussell leaves in June for the Peace Corps. But when he’s home, he’s float-building, a family obsession. “I was born on Mardi Gras Day in 1984,” he said.
High school French teacher Will Edmond has worked part-time with Mussell on the floats during holidays and school breaks for the last eight years.
“It’s unique, that’s for sure,” said Edmond, 33, who says his family has attended Mardi Gras events for 30 years, standing at the same spot to view parades. Another Mussell worker, 17-year-old Greg Thornton, said he works on the Mardi Gras floats “so I can be around it all year long.”
After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, Mobile advertised its “family-oriented” carnival in markets within a 150-to-200-mile radius, including Jackson, Miss., Hattiesburg, Miss., Baton Rouge, La., Birmingham and Montgomery, to counter reports about damages. Mobile was largely unscathed by Katrina.
Neighboring Biloxi, Miss., will have only one parade on the afternoon of Feb. 20, said Nancy Rogers, a spokeswoman for the Gulf Coast Carnival Association. Biloxi trimmed its parade schedule last year to one 2-hour parade because of Katrina damage. The U.S. Highway 90 bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs, damaged by the storm, still hasn’t been repaired, so this year’s plans weren’t increased, Rogers said.
New Orleans, devastated by winds and flooding when Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, has an Alabama connection to its carnival this year: American Idol winner Taylor Hicks of Birmingham, Ala., will reign as the Krewe of Endymion’s grand marshal. Endymion will roll down New Orleans’ historic St. Charles Avenue on Feb. 17, the Saturday before Fat Tuesday.
And New Orleans’ officials are hopeful attendance will be strong. “A number of factors, including weather, affect overall attendance, but we are hopeful that with the hotel room inventory continuing to come back and other tourism-related infrastructure in place, we will have strong visitation for Mardi Gras,” marketing director Ernest Collins said in a statement.
The Louisiana city has about 30,000 of its 38,000 hotel rooms back in service. Collins said attendance was “surprisingly strong last year given the inclement weather and the status of our recovery. With the absence of controversy regarding the appropriateness of the celebration, we expect that we’ll have incremental improvement on attendance from 2006 to 2007.”
Nevada City Mardi Gras parade invites entries
January 31, 2007
You can be a part of Nevada City’s “Fabulous Fifties” Mardi Gras Parade on Sunday, February 18.
The Nevada City Chamber of Commerce is now accepting entries for the 1950s-themed midwinter celebration. Entry fee is $25, plus the crowd expects entrants to hand out beads.
Marching units, floats, equestrians, vehicles, bands, other groups and individuals may enter the parade, a rain or shine event that begins at 2 p.m. at the top of Broad Street.
The parade caps a two-day (Feb. 17-18) Mardi Gras celebration in historic downtown Nevada City. The Mardi Gras Cajun Dinner and Masquerade Ball will be held at Miners Foundry on Saturday night.
For parade entry forms and other weekend information, contact the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce at (530) 265-2692 or see the chamber’s website, www.nevadacitychamber.com.
