The Good, the Bad and Worse!

One of the things you hear here in Venice during Carnival, particularly for the true "believers", is that over the past few years the event is becoming more and more degraded.  While previously, the costumes have tended to be historically authentic or the fantasy one quite extravagant, more and more people are showing up in basically what could be characterized as Halloween costumes and some are in pretty poor taste.  In addition, every year, Venice is more and more crowded during this time.  It was estimated that there were in excess of 25,000 people in Piazza San Marco on the Sunday for the "Flight of the Angel".  There is concern that the foundation of the square is being compromised with that many people in it.  Further, on the last weekend of Carnival, the streets are filled with crowds of people walking around with drinks being drunk, loud and disrespectful.  We saw several signs as we walked around saying "Tourists Go Home!".

We have heard several different approaches being considered to manage this increasing problem including: limiting the number of organized tours coming into Venice during the event; increasing the daily tourist tax from 3 Euros to 10 Euros a day; and even cancelling the event altogether for a few years.  The latter, in my opinion, would be a shame.  However, given that there was police presence everywhere on both weekends to control the traffic flow and, even with that, it was almost impossible to walk around at times.  In addition, the organization of the event seems to be lacking.  Even the official website was incomplete just days before it started.  Hopefully, the Venetians will somehow get all this sorted out and Carnivale will return to its former glory.

We all know that Carnival is celebrated in various parts of the world and some of these celebrations are rather famous like Carnival in Rio and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  Nice, France, has an event that is growing in popularity, and Basel, Switzerland, has been famous for its version for a long time.  In the German speaking regions in Europe (Austria, Germany and parts of Switzerland), it is known by several names including Fasching in south and eastern Germany, Fas(t)nacht, Fassenacht or Fasnet  in other parts, and Fasnacht in Switzerland. 

Now, more about the costumes. I was in Bavaria in 2006 during Fasching and attended several events (parades and dances) in the small villages around Fuessen.  I was quite surprised at how tacky some of the costumes and parades were.  Not sure I will ever get the image of the BDSM float in the parade in Schwangau out of my head ever - picture a woman wielding a whip on a guy strapped to a St. Andrew's cross and wearing nothing but a black leather thong (and he was NOT "model material", if you know what I mean!).  While I am sure some of the celebrations can be amazing, the costumes I saw there did not compare to the elaborate costumes you see in Venice.  And, from some of what we saw in Venice this time, it appears some of those more tacky styles have "dripped" into Venice.  In hindsight, I wish I had taken more photos of these type of costumes - bunny and Dalmatian "onesies", for example.  However, here are a few of the "lesser" ones:  milk bottles, zombies, and Prosecco bottles.  

As well, there were some costumes that were just plain quirky or weird (my opinion).

These people had balls of yarn on their heads and carried knitting needles

In contrast, the Australian photographer has posted more of his photos and these really show the distinction between the amateurish and the higher end ones.  I think these are amazing.  In a way, I've saved the best for last!!

So, with that, my Carnival experience is over.  Sunday, I flew to London where I will spend a week with friends there.  I may post some other blogs but, unless I can think of something new, this will be the end of the Venice portion.  I may be doing some things in London that might be worth writing about.  Time will tell!