Karneval for All

Howdy again, folks. Since I last wrote, things have been moving along steadily in the 'City of Smiles.' That there is Aarhus's nickname - I don't think I ever mentioned that the last time around though I'm considering a class-action lawsuit because I'm pretty sure I saw one person frown the other day. Perhaps it was because after a month of April which saw more sunlight hours than any other month in the history of the universe (an exaggeration, but I think I saw that it was a record), Denmark is up to its old tricks again. Though still not like the epic rains of last year, the month of May was decidedly more overcast and rainy than we've been accustomed to as of late. Looking ahead to June, I'm really hoping that these trends in precipitation don't continue; I don't want to be forced to seek litigation against any other scowling Danes.

As you might imagine, Memorial Day is in full effect over this way and when I say that, I mean I'm looking out my window at a cloudy sky, jonesing for a good cookout. Completely unrelated to a special day of American patriotism and remembrance, there was a celebration that did take place this weekend about an hour and change north of Aarhus in the city of Aalborg (all-bohr). Aalborg is the fourth-largest city in the country and on the last weekend of May for the past twenty-eight years, has been home to the Aalborg Karneval.

Dating back to 1983, the Carnival (I'm going to Anglicize from here on out) was founded to celebrate springtime and fill the void of not having a carnival on the last weekend of May. It was meant to be an event for the whole family, though the Danish equivalent of a carnival is not as we are familiar with back stateside. Rather than commandeering a fairground with rickety rides, fried dough and of course, carnies to run the show, the Carnival here is more akin to a 30,000-person Halloween parade. There are various events throughout the weekend, including parades for kids and their parents, a costumed battle of the bands and the Grand Parade, where people of all ages take to the main street, donned in their finest, cheesiest costumes. Groups of people often dress in themes and these run the imaginative gamut from extremely clever to woefully regrettable - I'll leave it to you to guess which was more prevalent.

Although only learning of the Carnival a week or so beforehand, a decision of whether to go or not was reached in no time. And so my roommate, whom a number of you know and will be formally introduced very shortly, accompanied me to this grand event. Arriving with makeshift Viking costumes (complete with shields made from seats off stools in our apartment), we were hosted by two fellow Americans - John and Anthony - whom we actually played the week before. We were lucky to have made this contact, as they and their friends were most hospitable indeed. In addition to being kind and generous, our hosts were a hit at Saturday's parade. People couldn't seem to get enough of their outfits, throwbacks to everybody's favorite British anthropomorphic television gremlins, The Teletubbies. They were lauded for their anatomically correct costumes, as opposed to another similarly-dressed bunch, all of whom paled in comparison due to near skintight outfits. Pictured below is John on the left as Tinky-Winky and Anthony on the right as Laa-Laa. This was taken shortly after they liberated a pirate ship float from a group of rather lame buccaneers.


As advertised, the parade was a raucous good time. It ended in a park where the rest of the Carnival festivities took place (perhaps that's where the carnies were hiding) and our party declined to enter, as none of us had pockets fit for storing money to cover the entrance fee. As a Viking, the thought crossed my mind to pillage the necessary funds from an unsuspecting nearby villager, though I ultimately reasoned that this might draw the ire of the local constable. We left the parade, returned our outfits to John and Anthony's apartment and did what any other self-respecting Carnival-goer would do: had dinner at a Chinese buffet. It was delicious. After an egg roll-induced nap, we hit the town for more adventure. Though we did so sans-costumes, quite a few still adorned theirs for the night and did so proudly.

Not bad for a Memorial Day Weekend, eh? Many thanks to our gracious hosts, our paths will most certainly meet again soon. Amidst all the excitement, I didn't even manage to snap a picture of our costumes. If one should emerge from someone else's camera, I will be sure to amend this post to include it. Should it not, I leave you to your imagination. For now though, the clouds have just lifted here and I'm off enjoy some of this sunshine. To all those back home, I hope you do the same and enjoy your day off. Be back soon.