The carnival party erupts again after two lean years. The essence of the party is the same everywhere: all relationships are turned upside down. How the partygoers interpret this differs per place and era, according to experts.
“The most important characteristic of carnival is that the relationships are reversed,” says Professor of Cultural Studies Sjaak Kroon. “The mayor hands over the key to the city to Prince Carnival, symbolically relinquishing power.”
Kroon thinks it is a risk that some traditions are less well understood by carnival celebrations. “This threatens to dilute rituals,” he says. For example the key transfer.
In Middelaar, North Limburg, where Kroon itself celebrates carnival, this handover was always accompanied by critical speeches about the city council. “Salt was put on all snails. But nowadays a happy song is sung.” According to Kroon, it is now more about the kick-off of the carnival party than about the transfer of power.
According to Kroon, if people no longer understand why traditions exist, there is a growing risk that carnival will look more like an ordinary party. “You have to know how to celebrate it.”
‘In Brabant carnival is more rancid and cheerful’
Jan van Mersbergen is an avid carnival goer and author of the book Carnival, a life story. He sees that the carnival culture in North Brabant is indeed flatter than in Limburg. As a teenager he celebrated the folk festival in Breda, where he said it was “quite refueling”.
“In Brabant carnival is more rancid, more open and more cheerful,” says Van Mersbergen. There people just ask if you want to go out and have sex. In Venlo (where Van Mersbergen is currently celebrating carnival, ed.) That question will be asked more subtly.”
The author also has a rancid example. He saw how a boy peed full of a put away beer glass and put it on a shelf. “Then a polonaisegoer took the ‘beer’ and took a sip,” he says amusedly.
Professor Kroon thinks the image of outsiders that carnival is dissolute is unjustified. “In the west people think it is a matter of drinking and cheating, but that is of course not the essence. Not in Limburg and not in Brabant.”
Cry every year
Van Mersbergen has been going to Venlo for years around this time, with 20 kilos of carnival clothes. “You can’t just show up at the farmer’s wedding on Tuesday in a purple outfit,” he says. “You have to have a good suit and a good story.”
It provides in-depth contacts, says Van Mersbergen. In Venlo they dance in such a way that partygoers look each other in the eye. “Never the polonaise. And in every song there is the word ‘you’. That way you can always sing to someone,” he says.
He also has at least one crying moment every year. “That’s okay too. Then someone just puts an arm around me.”
In the end, according to Van Mersbergen, it’s all about the people. “We talk a lot, also about illness and death. On the last Wednesday I always know exactly where I am in my life.”
