In Spain (and in Latin American countries) they celebrate Carnaval, a holiday in which people dress up in costumes and have a lot of fun before Lent season is upon them and they must sacrifice something. It's kind of like Halloween but it means more to the Spanish people than Halloween does in the US. The funny part about the holiday though is that there isn't one set day in which the country celebrates it. In fact, for weeks, it moves to different cities in Spain and is celebrated there. So of course when it came to Bilbao, my friends and I decided to get in on the fun and go celebrate. I decided to go last minute (it was storming that afternoon so I wasn't sure but it stopped by night) so my friend picked up some mouse ears. The fun part of the night was not seeing the costumes though, it was seeing everybody out. Even though the majority were teenagers, there were kids and old people out in the streets celebrating too. It seemed like everyone in the city was out in Bilbao! I went to Ohio University's Halloween last year and it was crazy but they have nothing on Carnaval in Bilbao! It seemed more meaningful to me because the whole city was celebrating together at one time, rather than just teens celebrating it at night or kids celebrating it by trick-or-treating in the evening (like we do in the US). It was still a party--don't get me wrong--but I could feel more from it than I have ever felt from Halloween in the US. Great experience and as an added bonus, I got to keep saying one of my favorite lines from the movie Mean Girls: "I'm a mouse, duh."
|
AuthorChristine Pope Click Here to See Blog Broken Down by Months!
April 2015
Categories |