Sunday, February 22

so is it Fat Monday?

A little more about Carnivale. It lasts over a week, so what else am I going to talk about? There were a few questions from my last post, so I'll elaborate. Yes, it's the same as the celebration that they do in Louisiana... a last ditch celebration of our glutenous, sinful lives before getting our acts together for lent. It ends on Fat Tuesday (ie, Marti Gras... this finally makes sense to me! In Italian, Tuesday is Martedi' and fat is grasso. English really confuses things.), which is immediately followed by Ash Wednesday. Very Catholic.

Although scattered festivities have been going on since over a week ago, the big kick off was on Thursday, dubbed "Fat Thursday."


On Thursday, Punkette went to school in costume and had loads of fun. Some of the parents put on a play for the kids, I'm not sure what it was about. I stopped asking about what they tell her at school after she told me all about blue and green little ridding hoods... as in Little Red Ridding Hood and friends. It's just too much for my pea sized brain to take in.




Punkone didn't dress up for school because his class did not. I'm not exactly sure why (I must appear to be a very involved parent to you) but perhaps it was for the best as the kids are asked to change into their costumes at school. If I think about the problems that changing into gym shoes seems to create, I guess I do have a fairly clear idea as to why costumes were done without this year.




On Saturday, in our little city, there is the parade that you see in these pictures. The parade involves a shocking amount of confetti. They shoot it out in cannons, every man, woman, and child has a large bag of it and it is everywhere. Last year it was raining during the parade and we all looked like we'd been tarred and feathered. This illuminates why, even in September, I spot bits of confetti on the streets. Today, a full day after the parade, after shaking out coats, hair, shoes, and clothes, I went swimming. When I was rinsing out my suit afterwards, I found confetti inside my suit.

12 comments:

  1. *grinning*

    Yeah, we are in the midst of Mardi Gras madness around here as well-Fat Tuesday is a legal holiday for us-no school or work for most folks. I have boycotted all parades this year as my kids are grown and I have enough beads to last me a lifetime-plus, parades around here equals a bunch of drunks on the roads after the parades. Great memories, though!

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  2. I always swear I'm going to be in La. during Mardi Gras, but...I never make it.

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  3. Trust you had a good swim !

    :)

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  4. Confetti cannons? Sounds like a lotta fun. And hey your blog is lookin' hot lately Christine :)

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  5. derfina... question for YOU... since I've never been to Mardi Gras... is it required that your flash your breasts for beads? Because I tell that to everyone here. One of those "things are just crazy in the US" stories. No beads here though... no bare boobs either... at least not this time of year.

    Janie... me either. Planned on it, but the idea of driving 10 hours to get stinking drunk, naked, and sleep on the street always deterred me.

    Kavi... Yes, it was fantastic.

    Braja... very much lots of fun, and hey you are stellar for saying so.

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  6. Confetti cannons sound so cool! That parade looks like so much fun!

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  7. Confetti sounds fun! I guess confetti in a suit is better than sand, yes?

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  8. Anonymous4:13 AM

    Everything is so festive. I love the Sunflower people. Confetti in your swimsuit....ummm...sounds itchy. :)

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  9. I love confetti -- but only if someone else is doing the cleanup. Martedi Grasso looks like loads of fun!

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  10. Anything that involves costumes and confetti cannons sounds fun to me. And finding little bits of confetti much later in the year would just be a great reminder of the fun you had. Like finding beach sand in your car in winter.

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  11. LOL -- that's so funny you had confetti in your swimsuit !!! I would love to make it to Italy for carnivale, it sounds way more fun that Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Hurricanes ARE pretty yummy, though.... :)

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  12. I'm so envious that you can go swimming! We're still ice skating here! Enjoy the rest of the week!

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...and you may ask yourself, well...how did I get here?