Carnaval

Isma and I, moderately disguised

The procession coming down rue de Metz
 towards the Pont Neuf bridge

Friday night was "Carnaval", or Mardi Gras in Toulouse. It's been 20 years since they've celebrated it here since apparently festivities got a little too out of hand back in the day. It was supposed to be two weeks ago with a parade on Wednesday, celebrations Thursday and a ball on Friday, however and given the events of the past few weeks it was pushed back again to this Friday.

There was a parade that started in the city center around 7:30pm with floats and all the Toulousains dressed up kids and adults. They walked and danced all around the city throwing paper confetti everywhere, and finished by crossing over the Pont Neuf around 10pm.

The hideous head up close

The whole point of the procession is to bring the "Monsieur Carnaval" to a place where the city then burns him. Kind of violent, no? The Monsieur can take many forms, like a scarecrow type body to a paper maché statue. This year the Monsieur Carnaval was a huge crowned head with a gaping mouth and fangs made entirely out of woven balsa wood. The idea is that you blame all the misfortunes, hardships, heartaches, etc of the year on the Monsieur in question, and then burn him. Kind of cathartic right?

The bonfire took place in the Prairie de Filtres next to the Garonne river, with hundreds of people lining both sides of the river and hanging over the bridge.

People gathered at the Prairie des Filtres for the bonfire

Take that Monsieur Carnaval

It was neat to be a part of, and nice to see the city back out on the streets celebrating something.

A bientôt.

Linz