Christmas holidays are once more over, exams are finally done, so time for another holiday. That is very convenient, as holiday in February means time for carnival. The most famous carnival party in Belgium is held in Aalst.

Carnival is the three-days party before the start of Lent. It is, following the Christian habits, the last time you can drink enormous amounts of alcohol, eat tons of candy and meat and do things you actually should not be doing… That is at least what the tradition tells us.
And where in Belgium is there a better place to celebrate this then in Aalst? Aalst is a city in the centre of the country, approximately in between Ghent and Brussels, in the province of East Flanders. Since 2008 ‘Aalst carnival’ is on the UNESCO world heritage list, so that should make it worth a visit, doesn’t it?
Every year a new ‘Prince Carnival’ is elected. He gets the power to rule over the city during the festivities: after his election he officially receives the keys of the city gates and the sceptre. He also becomes the ambassador of the city for the rest of the year. To become ‘Prince Carnaval’ is the dream of a lot of inhabitants of Aalst. The candidates spare no effort in making a CD and a great show for the elections. The most important thing is to become known by the public. To this end, the candidates are present on all the events that have anything to do with carnival. Furthermore, they make themselves even more popular by buying everybody lots of drinks. As you can imagine this is a very expensive business, so most candidates start at least a year beforehand, by looking for sponsors to finance their election campaign. If a prince gets elected for three times in a row, he becomes ‘emperor’. In the history of Aalst carnival this, however, only happened once.
The new carnival season officially starts on the feast of the Epiphany, when the candidates for ‘Prince Carnival’ are presented to the public. From then on, they can start to charm everybody with their campaign in order to obtain votes. On the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the carnival council officially opens the carnivals weekend. That day, a big parade crosses the city, with about 70 groups of costumed volunteers and parade cars. The parade attracts over 70,000 spectators every year. Each year, the groups pick a new theme to inspire their costumes and cars, generally a topical matter. This year is already the 82nd edition. The parade always ends on the market place where all the groups give the best of themselves to please the jury.
‘The Gilles’ is one of the most famous carnival groups in Belgium. They are anonymous carnival characters in colourful costumes with lions and crowns on them. On Monday they perform their famous broomstick dance. They put on their golden masks and when the drum roll starts they stamp their feet to the ground, ring their bells and throw their broomsticks in the air, in order to chase away the evil spirits. After their performance, ‘Prince Carnival’ throws little candy-onions (the onion is the symbol of Aalst, red.) at the public from the balcony of the city hall. In every candy the people can find a number. With this number you can get a prize at city hall. The person with number 1 receives the one and only ‘golden onion’, designed by a jeweller from Aalst. In the evening, the jury hands out the prizes to the best groups from the parade. The jury pays attention to costumes, originality, dances, etc.
And then last but not least, Shrove Tuesday is the day of the ‘Voil Jeanetten’, which literally means the day of the ‘Dirty Jennies’. This time a parade of men dressed as women passes trough town. Finally, the festivities end on Tuesday evening with the burning of the doll.
Do you want to be a part of this carnivals craziness? Then go take a look yourself in Aalst! This year’s carnival weekend takes place from February the 14th, the day of the parade (the parade starts at 1 PM, red.), till the 16th. Enjoy! |