This weekend, our commune had its annual carnival – a tradition that has apparently been going on since 1903, with short breaks for periods of war. It had floats, dancers, children in costumes, unicorns, waffle-eating and cigarette-smoking bears, and beer. And confetti. And presents for the audience.
It was really rather good.
At Pride parades I’ve been to, the presents for the audience thrown out from floats tend to be condoms. This parade featured sweets and (somewhat more oddly) calenders and diaries. I got a very nice red weekly diary to help me plan my life, and a bunch of sweets; what more could one ask for?
Also slightly odd to foreign me was the amount of people taking part in the parade who were smoking and drinking beer. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a similar event in the UK (I don’t even know if we have similar events in the UK, truth be told), but I feel sure that people co-opted to take part in a parade like this wouldn’t be allowed to smoke and drink during a supposedly children-focused event like this. Symbolised most clearly by a somewhat unhappy looking grown-up bear, holding his little daughter’s hand, smoking his way through the parade stop I was standing at. It was cold and I totally sympathised with the guy! The numerous floats finishing up the parade drinking beer were also a surprise (except for the pub-themed float – also unlikely in the UK – where a man in a dress was repeatedly throwing a giant stuffed dog under the wheels of his float while drinking beer; that seemed almost reasonable, in the circumstances…) but everyone seemed happy and none of the children watching seemed particularly traumatised!
A selection of photos follows…
And a couple of bonus sunset photos, because we had a particularly nice sunset the other day:
ExpatinBrussels 