Carnival

The season of lent in many European and South American countries is started by a season of carnival which ends on the day referred to in the states as Mardi Gras. Carnival consists of different sorts of parades, many costumes for everyone and lots and lots of confetti!  

The first carnival I went to was at a little village. There were different floats and they threw a bit of candy (all the same) and a lot of confetti! One of the groups in the parade had its members on stilts painted with the colors of Wallonia and Flanders. The twist, the two “teams” would fight against eachother and try to knock the opponents off their stilts. Quite interesting (a bit dangerous) and in the match I saw Wallonie won!

The second carnival I went to is the carnival of Binche. It is famous for it's strange costumes, expensive ostrich feather hats, specific marching music and the practice of throwing oranges into the crowd.

They say that if you catch an orange you will have good luck. I managed to catch one, so I guess according to tradition I'll now have good luck!