Carnaval has started in the Netherlands

[pieter]

The best and most atmospheric and cosy Carnaval celebrations are in the Roman-Catholic South, with the Limburg and Brabant people, who really know how to make a Carnaval celebration.
There whole cities, towns and villages celebrate carnaval, and make the most beautiful weagons and the mast crazy and funny suits. Ofcourse Carnaval is a Roman-Catholic celebration.
Today some Calvinists, Lutherans, secular humanists and others also like to experience Carnaval. But real Carnaval is in the genes of Southern-Dutch people.

The real Carnaval you find in Limburg or Brabant. For instance in Arnhem maybe only 10%, 15% or 25% of the people celebrate Carnaval.

In the Limburg and Brabant cities of Maastricht, Venlo, Venray, Roermond, S'Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch), Helmond, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda, Bergen op Zoom and Rozendaal more people celebrate.

This is real Southern (Catholic) Brabants Carnaval how it is supposed to be in Den Bosch in North-Brabant in the South


Maastricht, Limburg, Catholic Southern Netherlands

[pieter]

A real Carnaval city or town is renamed and Prince Carnaval takes over the power from the mayor to lead the party.

[Jaga]

Pieter, really beautiful videos. I wish I had time to watch all of them in full, but what I saw is probably reflecting Dutch soul.

[karl]

Pieter

This looks like a fun time with the various carnavals, and the best time, if at least the weather holds. This time of the year, most likely most people need some fun time to chase out the winter cold and dreary time.

The videos are very good in showing the laughter and smiles that are so contagious.

Thank you for sharing..

Karl

[pieter]

You're welcome Karl. I believe if you cross the border in Limburg to Germany and Belgium you will see German and Belgian versions of Carnaval, because the Belgians and Germans know how to party too. You have Roman-Catholics there too who celebrate Carnaval.

Carnival in the Netherlands

Carnival (Dutch: Carnaval; also called "vastenavond" – eve of the fasting or Limburgish: "vastelaovend") is a festival held throughout the Netherlands, mainly in the Southern regions, with an emphasis on role-reversal and suspension of social norms. The feast was assimilated by the Catholic Church, taking elements from ancient pagan spring festivals and is celebrated in the three days preceding the Christian holidays of Ash Wednesday and Lent.

From an anthropological point of view, Carnaval is a reversal ritual, in which social roles are reversed and norms about desired behavior are suspended. Winter was thought of as the reign of the winter spirits that were to be driven out for the summer to return. Carnaval can thus be regarded as a rite of passage from darkness to light, from winter to summer: a fertility celebration, the first spring festival of the new year.

Many people in modern times do not relate the holiday at all with religion, but its date is still set before the start of the Christian season of Lent. Also the core of the modern Carnaval has maintained its socially critical function by role reversal and temporary abandonment of social norms. The first day of Carnaval is six weeks before Easter Sunday. Carnaval officially begins on Sunday and lasts three days until the start of Ash Wednesday at midnight. Nowadays the celebrations often start on Thursday evening though, which makes it in practice a six day celebretion.

In the southern part of the Netherlands during Carnaval, normal daily life comes to a near stop. Roads are temporarily blocked and many local businesses close for the week because many employees take days off during and after Carnaval. According to post-Napoleon tradition, the feast lasts from Sunday until Tuesday. In recent years the feast usually starts on Saturday. Also Friday evening (or at schools at Friday afternoon) and in some places Thursday (Ouwe Wijven) are considered the start of Carnaval, which makes it a six days' celebration. The festivities last the entire day and well into the nights. Some parades and many balls and bonte avonden or other meetings are held in the weeks before the official Carnaval, but never before the first official court meeting on 11 November. Historically the 40 days of Lent would start on Wednesday at midnight and continue until Easter. Nowadays it is still the official ending of Carnaval, though some Carnaval activities such as herring eating are traditionally held on Wednesday after Carnaval. 20 days into Lent there might be an other parade or festivities, called "Half-Vasten" (Half-Lent). Lent itself is generally not practiced anymore by the Southern Dutch population as a result of irreligion dominating the area nowadays.

Kinds of Carnaval

In the Netherlands there are two kinds of Carnaval: the Rhenish carnaval and the Burgundian carnaval.

The Carnavals are in many ways similar, but because of their origins and unique traditions they are also easy to distinguish from each other. The Rhenish variant is usually celebrated in Limburg, the Burgundian variant in the north, mid and west of North Brabant, Gelderland, Twente and in parts of Zeeland and in Utrecht. The east of North Brabant (where East Brabantian is spoken) has manifestations of both types of carnaval and forms an overlap region of the two types of carnaval, but is often classified as Burgundian. The Rhenish carnaval in the Netherlands is a derivative of the Cologne carnaval. The Burgundian carnaval originated from the traditional eating feasts during which people would ridicule one another during the carnaval in the Southern Netherlands (nowadays Belgium, Luxembourg and the Dutch Provinces North Brabant and Limburg), especially in the Duchy of Brabant

Carnaval customs

Role reversal and role dressing

Carnaval is not only a feast of eating and drinking, but also serves as social role reversal feast which allows people to behave outside the usual acceptable social norm. People will dress up as a character, much as seen during the feast of halloween that appears in the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon culture, which though has developed from a different origin. During the Dutch carnaval people will often dress colourful and take on roles like jesters, occupations, objects, animals, other genders and sexes, archetypes or fairytale characters, well known people, subcultures, historical figures or foreign cultures. Masks and face paint are often used in combination with the costumes. The old tradition of wearing masks is becoming more and more replaced by the use of face paint, which makes it easier to drink and eat during the feasting. The costumes allow people to change their identity and role in society for a few days without being judged for it by their fellowman during and after the carnaval. This also applies to feasting and drinking and other licentious behaviour which can be attributed to the temporary identity one takes on, rather than to the person him or herself. The costumes may, but are often not, meant to be political incorrect, ridiculing, taboo-breaking, politically and socially and religiously critical, insulting or self-mocking, which is part of the role reversal origins of the feast. The function of this is to mirror and exaggerate daily life, to denounce and raise awareness of every day events and put life in perspective. A proper mocking carnaval costume does not simply insult or ridicule, but makes actually a valuable point. When not used to make a point, carnaval costumes offer an opportunity to temporarily change identity and express oneself freely. Nowadays some people will have a different costume for each day they celebrate carnaval because of the lack of time to wash their clothes.

Traditionally the role dressing serves three major purposes:

- The costume allows people to become and act according to an identity they cannot take on or express during the rest of the year because of social standards and serves thus as an outlet for such needs.
- The costume offers a visual way of protesting or expressing criticism and mirroring by exaggeration of social circumstances, authority and daily life to break taboos, create awareness and reflect on past and current events.
- The costume provides protection when criticizing and ridiculing others because the wearer can either not be recognized or the criticism can be attributed to the role the wearer assumes during the carnaval rather than to the wearer himself. Because of this the wearer can safely express his criticism and opinion without having to fear for consequences in his daily life.

Key transfer

The Prince of carnaval receives on the first day of the carnaval the symbolic key to the city / town from the hands of the mayor, who transfers to him three days of "power". This element of the carnaval is already known in the medieval carnaval. The changing of positions in power provide an opportunity to criticize the authorities without fear of retribution and are part of the role reversal function of the carnaval.

[pieter]

And this is the report I made about Carnaval in Arnhem yesterday. The parade went through Arnhem. In the past Carnaval started with the Carnaval mass in the local church. Today we don't have that anymore.

[karl]

Pieter

Yes, also in Germany with before lent as Karneval/Fasching.

www.tripsavvy.com/celebrate-carnival-in-germany-1519916

Very simular in Denmark on observance day. I believe this year Karneval {Dansk-Fastelavn} in Aalborg which is in the North end {South of Skagen}. It will be held on 11 February 2018.

The following url was in Copenhagen. Dansk people for the most part are tall in as well as your Dutch people for the most part. Simular climate and simular foods.



Karl

[pieter]

You are right that the Danish and Dutch are very simular in legth, culture and climate. Both Northern Protestant cultures.
Both Danish and Dutch girls often are fair skinned, blue eyed, blond and tall and direct.

Both peoples love to travel the world, love Southern-Europe, Southern-America, Africa and Asia, due to their own cool, wet
and windy climates. Both peoples have their immigrants and their tropical South-American summer carnavals.

[pieter]

Rotterdam summer carnaval 2


Copenhagen summer Carnaval


Another similarity between Danish girls and women and Dutch girls and women. They love Tango, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, Samba, Merenge and other Southern-Amnerican dances and music.
I often went with my Amsterdam girlfriends to Brazillian, Cuban, Argentinian, Mexican and Spanish bars and clubs and restaurants, to dance, eat and drink.
I loved the fact that Amsterdam had a lot of Southern-American, Spanish and Portuguese people. Especially Chillian people, Argentinians, Mexicans, Cubans, but also Brazillians,
Latin Americans (from Honduras, San Salvador, Nicaragua) and Caribbeans.

I deleted a part of this text, because I didn't agree with what I wrote yesterday. I did and do enjoy Southern-American, Spanish and Portuguese culture, history, music, people and food.
I still remember my last real foreign trip last year to the wonderful Spanish Canary Island of La Gomera and before that my journey to the Azores with a wonderful Dutch girlfriend.
I loved their way of living, their esthetic villages, their tile walls with blue images of Jesus, Mary and other symbols of their Roman-Catholic faith and their wonderful white churches.

I like the warmth, the family life and the different rythem of the Southern European life.

We knew Venezuelan, Argentinian, Chillian, Colombian and Brazillian people. One of my female friends had a Venezuelan boyfriend (half Italian, halt native American) and another
had an Argentinian boyfriend. Via these partners we had contacts and connections with the Latino community in Amsterdam.

That was after my Russian time of the Russian parties and Russian expat community and native Dutch student life in Amsterdam.

These Brazillians, Chillians and Argentinains sure knew how to dance, make music, make delicious dinners and make good wine too.

[karl]

Pieter

It is very good to see such happy times these people are enjoying, I had almost forgotten what it was like to be young. Also, my self was a bit hesitant to risk interjecting Danish Carnaval and should not have done so, I am thankful you were not offended or felt I was competing which is not the case, simply trying to add to your presentation is all.

I was to enjoy the video of your personal enter view of the two ladies. Mostly I enjoyed it because it was you conducting the filming, also recognize the voice of your lady partner from another live video made of the opening of a new train station quite some time in past. She possibly must do these with you on various assignments, you both do work well together.

This is a good time of the year for these celebrations for it drives out the gloom and lifts the spirits of people.

I do understand the feelings of those enjoying latin dancing, I have in long past attempted to learn to Tango from a very nice Argentine lady and failed miserably. She was very nice about it but we did not try that again she lived in Rosario which is North West from Buenos Aires. We become good friends from the start for she spoke the same Rioplatense Spanish that I had learnt.

Karl

[pieter]

Karl,

You should know by now that I am seldom offended by your replies. They interest me and encourage me to be more precise and sometimes conscious if there is a critical element in them. I liked your comparisson between the Dutch and Danish cultures and peoples.
The only differences I can distinghuish is the fact that the Dutch are Calvinists, Roman-Catholics and largely secular-Humanist (liberals) and that the Danes often are Lutherans. And the fact that the Danes speak a North-Germanic Scandinavian language and that the
Dutch speak a West-Germanic language, which lies inbetween the English, German and Low Saxon languages. Maybe there are some climate differences too, since Denmark lies more Northern in the North-West of the Netherlands.

Another difference is that Denmark is a more hill country, has a rocky coast, and has historical ties with the other Scandinavian countries!

Cheers,
Pieter

[Jaga]

Pieter, I am really enjoying all people there who have their specific roles and connections and do their best to make the old Dutch culture known again

[Jaga]

Feb 13, 2018 3:36:02 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Pieter, I am really enjoying all people there who have their specific roles and connections and do their best to make the old Dutch culture known again

I posted some on my facebook