Dunkirk Carnival is making a comeback after Covid-19

The return of the kletches and masqueours. After three editions interrupted by Covid-19, the Dunkirk carnival kicked off this Sunday with a thousand revelers who paraded in Cappelle-la-Grande, in the north. This is the first ribbon of the carnival season which continues until mid-April.

“It’s happiness, we’ve missed it so much,” says Sébastien Demoulin, a 42-year-old cook, in a fur coat, hat with giant pheasant feathers and black sequined makeup on the streets of Cappelle-la-Grande on the outskirts of Dunkirk where the inaugural party was held.

“We missed the carnival so much! »

“Let’s take out the keys [costumes] Here we go again ! Carnival is life…”. As is the Flanders tradition, locals and day visitors are masked. The masquerours (people in disguise) meet in private houses or institutions by opening their doors for the occasion, and parade down the street in a “band”, in rows arm in arm behind the drum major and the clique (orchestra) who sing the traditional tunes picked up by the crowd.

“We missed the carnival so much! Last night I said to myself, it has to start again, otherwise I’ll freak out,” says Christian Deroo, a retired butcher, wearing a jacket made of 1,500 plastic caps paired with orange tights and high-heeled sandals.

“It’s a meeting,” the socialist mayor of Cappelle-la-Grande, Julien Gokel, told AFP. We feel a need for cohesion, and to get out of a gloomy everyday life to live a fraternity that goes beyond any social division. »

Waiting for the herring jet, February 19th

Activities, such as a concert by Prouts, the carnival’s star group, and a World Cup qualifying event for the Cry of the Seagull, were packed despite two Coupe de France matches at Dunkirk pitting local teams against Ligue 1.

The 2020 edition of the carnival was interrupted en route by the lockdown, the 2021 edition still canceled due to Covid19 and the 2022 edition suspended by the mayors due to the outbreak of the pandemic. Some bands had however improvised, the occasion to find “the creative, spontaneous and participatory side of the carnival”, underlined Christophe Paulino, the lead singer of Prouts.

The highlight of the carnival is the Dunkirk herring toss on 19 February, which usually gathers tens of thousands of carnival-goers in front of the port city’s Town Hall.