Behind the Mask
Photography by George Scerri , Peter Paul Buttigieg and Tony Cassar
The gigantic float is slowly pushing its way through the Valletta streets, as the crowds give way to it. With its grotesque exuberance, it looks like something out of a Bosch painting, a slowly-advancing giant out of which people peep or dangle, often dancing. Children look up rapt and adults bemused, as float follows float, each attempting to outdo the other in sheer size, exuberance and outrageousness.
Dating back to the period of the Knights of St John in Malta, Carnival has a long and distinguished tradition in Malta and Gozo. Often it is celebrated in freezing cold, which fails to dampen the celebrations as crowds turn up in their thousands.
Running between 20-24 February, this year’s Carnival activities will feature new events such as the grand festival in Valletta, which will kick off with dancing and celebrations all around the capital city on Saturday 21 February at around 18.30 until early Sunday morning.
A new enclosure will also be set up and the setting will accommodate many more people who annually flock to Valletta to enjoy the merriment and appreciate the artistic floats.
CARNIVAL 2009
PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES FOR
THE VALLETTA CARNIVAL
Friday 20 February 2009
Carnival Dancing Competitions in Freedom Square, Valletta, including a spectacular défilé with the participation of the King Carnival Float, Carnival Band and sets of Grotesque Masks (Enclosure Tickets €3.50)
Saturday 21 February 2009
Children’s Carnival in Freedom Square, Valletta. A succession of dances performed by children, float défilés and merriment all along Republic Street, Valletta including the procession of floats in Freedom Square
(Enclosure Tickets €5.00)
Carnival Dancing Competitions including a spectacular show of the King Carnival Float, Triumphal and Company Floats in Freedom Square (Enclosure Tickets €8.00)
Carnival Band Parade all along Valletta main streets
Carnival Parties in St. George’s Square, Market Square,
St. John’s Square and all along Republic, Merchant and
St. John’s Street with the participation of 2009 Carnival floats
and dancing companies (activities will last until the early hours of
Sunday morning)
Sunday 22 February 2009
Selection of the Carnival Dancing Competitions in Freedom Square, Valletta including a spectacular grand défilé with the participation of the King Carnival Float, Triumphal and Company Floats, bands and Grotesque Masks all along Merchant Street, St. John’s Street, and Republic Street followed by the défilé in Freedom Square (Enclosure Tickets €10.00)
Monday 23 February 2009
Carnival Street Parade
Carnival Dancing Competitions in Freedom Square, Valletta including a spectacular défilé with the participation of the King Carnival Float, Grotesque bands, Company Floats and Grotesque Masks (Entrance Tickets €3.50)
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Carnival Street Parade
Carnival Dancing Competitions in Freedom Square, Valletta including a spectacular défilé with the participation of the King Carnival Float, Grotesque bands, Company Floats and Grotesque Masks (Enclosure Tickets €3.50)
Grand Finale in St. Anne’s Street, Floriana
But although the main celebrations are held in Valletta, several villages hold their own variants, often with hilarious results. Nadur in Gozo, for instance, is well-known for its spontaneous Carnival. When night falls, armies of masked and hooded locals rush out into the main street, wearing grotesque and imaginative costumes put together from old items accumulated at home. The results are often hilarious and directly inspired from current issues or everyday ills and sufferings.
From the local to the regional, from the political to the satirical, from the macabre to the outrageous, all serve as inspiration to the range of costumes parading down Nadur’s main street. So it is that Bush, Hitler and Saddam have been known to walk arm-in-arm, next to horribly misshapen ugly old men and women. Occasionally, large floats push by, squashing the lookers-on to the side of the streets as entire scenes – representing weddings, childbirth, even entire farms – inch their way down the street.
In recent years, the Nadur local council has also introduced an organised Carnival which has co-existed fairly peacefully with the spontaneous Carnival. This year, the Nadur local council will hold its activity on Thursday 19 February (Mardi Gras). The event will begin at 18.00 with “Il-Bandu”, parata tal-Karnival, floats, hilarious dances and a foreign band, among other attractions. The parade will begin at December 13th Street and march to St. Peter & St. Paul Square where the dances and attractions will be held.
Close by, in neighbouring Xaghra, another Carnival celebration has survived. The kumittiva is a folk dance which has survived only in Xaghra and whose definite origins are not known.
“What we know for sure is that it is only found in Gozo and that it is performed during Carnival, as this was the time of year when dancing was allowed for the country folk and lower classes,” says Frances Busuttil from the Fondazzjoni Kumittiva Ghawdex.
In the true spirit of Carnival, it is also linked with a history of protest, she says. “Old dancers’ eyes light up when you mention it to them,” says Frances. “They mention how, in the sixties, they would try to dance the Kumittiva in Victoria in protest and police would be sent to stop them.”
The Kumittiva is an inherited folklore dance which is passed on from one generation to another. “This dance runs in the blood,” says Frances. “And the music must be played live. Always,” she says. “The musicians are part and parcel of the dance.”
For more information on the Malta Carnival in Valletta log on to
www.maltaculture.com or email: antonmiceli@maltaculture.com
The Nadur spontaneous Carnival is held in the streets of Nadur between 20-24 February. For more info on the Xaghra Kumittiva contact Frances Busuttil on frances_busuttil@hotmail.com