Recently, on "Fat Thursday", we went to the opening of the Barcelona carnival. (Carnaval is celebrated in many countries around the world to mark the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of reflection before Easter). 

The event in Barcelona began with a big dance. The dance was preformed by the ambassadors of the carnival. There were 8 Ambassadors, each wore a different coloured costume, one for each colour; Red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue and purple. (I know, there are two blues).  

The dance started at the top of a pedestrian avenue. Acrobats stood on each others shoulders while dancing and doing tricks, the ambassadors did ridiculous things, and everyone danced to Gummy Bear song. Each of the ambassadors took turns dancing in the centre of the circle.  After the first dance we all proceeded down the avenue to a big cultural centre. We stopped outside and danced around until the King Of Carnival arrived. 

The king arrived in a carriage drawn by two black horses. He wore a funny striped suit and pants that looked like bloomers. The king tossed candy to the crowd and made a speech in catalan. After that everyone went inside and watched as the king and his ambassadors walked down the stairs to the lower level. 

(There is a big pit in the middle of the floor so we could see where they went)

I managed to get a good spot at the railing pretty fast, only, it turns out it I was in the press box and I got kicked out just as fast as I got in. I still got a pretty good spot though.😄 There was a throne on a dais in the centre of the pit and the king sat there after much ridiculous ceremony.

The king made another speech while his ambassadors dramatized what he said. The ambassadors would go from looking joyful to insulted, sad to happy, outraged to loving. You know, the usual.

100 pictures later we all went outside and watched a fireworks display that marked the beginning of carnival.

This is my account of carnival, I hope you liked it. 

THE END 

p.s. Here are a few pictures that my Dad and I took that evening....