I had always imagined the Nadur Carnival to be very dark and bleak. I had even heard that it is known as the Grotesque and the Macabre Carnival, this led me to imagine all sorts of nasty and horrible things. Being a very conservative person, some of the stories I had heard about this Carnival made me decide that I would hate the event. This is why year after year I had refused my friends’ invitation to join them in Gozo. However, last year I decided to pluck up the courage and give it a try. To my utter surprise it turned out to be one of the best weekends ever.
I arrived at Nadur Square on Saturday night all frightened at what I might find. To make things worse the first person I saw was someone dressed in a scary old man’s costume, limping on a stick. I tried to console myself thinking that it was only some teenager mocking around, only for the man to turn round and expose his wrinkled skin and white hair. It truly was an old man in the costume!
As I walked towards the center of Nadur to meet my friends a nasty feeling that I should have stayed at home started bothering me. Then it suddenly hit me: the vibrant colours, the load familiar music, the hustle and bustle of it all, I suddenly started to feel welcome and as my tension started to ease I started enjoying it all. Whole groups of friends dressed in matching costumes, pirates, mice, angels, pigs ; you name it you have it. The place was packed. But even though I was really afraid I’d get lost, I kept seeing famiIiar faces all around and lots of friends I had not seen in ages. We scurried past floats packed with masked people who were throwing large floured doughs at anyone who walked by.When I saw a man walking around with a live octopus in his pants I must admit I felt a bit disgusted, however the variety of costumes and original props quickly helped me forget what I had just seen. I ended up really enjoying the whole experience and am really looking forward to going back there this year.
A number of events are being promoted on facebook for the Carnival weekender and The Nadur Carnival 2010 facebook group already has more than 1,600 members. Despite all last year’s controversy I’m sure this year’s carnival will be as good as ever, let us keep our fingers crossed that good weather will accompany us. Let spontaneity reign!
Daniela Zammit Marmara.
Photograph – Daniela Zammit Marmara