CARNIVAL SEASON ENDS ACROSS THE WORLD, ABOUT TO START IN THE SEYCHELLES
As the traditional carnival nations like Brazil and Germany celebrate the very last day of this years festival and parade season, due to end at midnight when Ash Wednesday rings in the Christian 40 days of fasting, elsewhere preparations are in high gear to welcome participants from around the world in celebrating the Seychelles own Carnaval de Carnivals, the Carnival International de Victoria from March 02 to 04.
At the stroke of midnight will the last songs have been played and the last dance ended in Germanys carnival capital of Duesseldorf, but key players and actors will be packing their suitcases to fly with Etihad via Abu Dhabi to Mahe to perform their skills and arts of funny, comic and often sarcastic displays on a float, when the main parade in Victoria goes underway. They are joined by Brazils Samba Queen, who is also coming with her troupe from Rio de Janeiro on Emirates, making the journey to extend their own carnival season by a precious extra week, before the costumes tiny as they are will be mothballed for another year. Another at least 20 teams, including a delegation from the UKs Notting Hill carnival, will also be present to beef up the displays and show a truly global array of performances from their respective countries.
Organizing the Mother of all Carnivals in the Seychelles was a genius masterstroke by the Seychelles Tourism Board, as it brings the key actors from the world stages of Carnival to the archipelago, getting the global media to take notice and report about it and having tourists who would traditionally fly to Rio or the German Rheinland come to the tropical island paradise for a few added days of carnival fun.
In Germany, when carnival ends tonight, the next season will traditionally kick off on 11.11 at 11.11 hrs with the first festive meeting of the lead organizations but for aficionados, there is always that escape to the Seychelles, to get that little bit of extra carnival experience once elsewhere the doors have been shut.
9 days and counting as preparations at the Bel Ombre head quarters of the Seychelles Tourism Board are now in the final countdown to the big day, 02nd of March. See you in Victoria, but if not, watch this space, watch live tweets from the streets of the Seychelles capital city or visit www.seychelles.travel
