Are You Ready for the Carnival?

Are you ready for the Carnival?

In fact, no matter how ready you are, at this very moment I have some fears that the time of carnivals has passed irrevocably.

And that the only thing we can do now is go back to the memories, or be content with someone else's photos (mine in this case) to relive these wonderful events.

Therefore, let us not linger in empty talk, but let's start.

We are in Xanthi - a beautiful, not so big city in northern Greece.

Unlike most of my compatriots, I do not know Greece well. I missed the period in which it suddenly became very fashionable to go from Bulgaria to the sea in Greece.

Because I didn't live there at that time.

To do this by the Bulgarians is completely understandable, given the poor service and high prices on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

But here, in this post, we are talking about culture and not pure holiday tourism. And as far as I know, the event that I will show you is also attended by many Bulgarians. Mostly from the inhabitants of this part of Bulgaria, which borders Greece.

Not much I know about the city itself. I know that it once belonged even to Bulgaria. And also that nowadays, many Muslims live here, left over from the period of Ottoman rule.

But the most important thing here is actually the festival, the Xanthi Carnival, which is the second largest and most important such festival in Greece at all.

Personally, I do not like crowds and noise, and I went to this carnival with great reservations and prejudices.

But this turned out to be a very special event. And I even planned to go there again next year - last year.

Which, of course, turned out to be futile planning. And the carnival I went to in 2019 turned out to be the last carnival indefinitely in the future.

Why people like to disguise themselves, I guess, is a topic for another post.

Because you see that Carnival is not just some fun for children.

The adults have the most fun here:

because they danced excitedly:

Here is the traditional cross-dressing:

In fact, this festival was the reason I realized how connected our cultural traditions and customs are with those of Greece. This then led me to check customs from various countries in Europe and to establish their connection. Because, right when a person travels, his horizons expand, and he learns and realizes new things - through experience, experiences and direct vision, and not through reading books.

The queen of the festival was a little serious and not in the mood,

but the other participants made up for it:

I don't know if you have ever experienced this madness that is passed from person to person at these events. It is again a direct result of masking people. The freedom that camouflage gives people borders on insanity. And it is contagious.

So, the question here is, are you ready to explode? Are you ready to go crazy?

Are you ready?

I hope that with these photos I managed to convey to you the festive mood of all these "crazy" people.

Cheers

....

Pictures were taken with Canon EOS 700D.

Copyright: @soulsdetour