My son and I are leaving our small town in southeastern United States to live for a year in a small town in southeastern France. It couldn't possibly be THAT different, right?

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Carnaval

    I always thought that Carnaval was the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, but in France, that's not how they do things.  New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro and the rest of the world already fêted their Carnaval over a month ago, but over here it is more of a celebration of spring than the last hurrah before Lent. Free of religious commitment, the date of Carnaval varies from city to city in France, and today was ours.
    Jed and I walked downtown with Bénédicte, Kylian, and Mattéo where we met lots of costumed men, women, and children in the Quartier Saint Martin.  I thought that we were there to watch a parade, but once again, I missed something in the translation.  We were not watching the parade.  We WERE the parade.  We walked all through centre ville throwing confetti into the crowd and ended up at the park where we ate crêpes and watched as the float carrying Carmantran (carême entrant or the coming of Lent) was pushed out into the pond and set afire. 

Darth and the two "gentlemen"


Our neighbor Sarah and her mom



Dom, Eytan, and Néo bring Jack Skelington and Sally to life.  Dom made the boys' costumes, of course!  She can do anything!



The boys with Benoît, the head "surveillant" at their school



The boys with Nicolas, their coach for the Thursday afternoon sports club


Bénédicte



Carmantran

      

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