Carnival - Nov 2024
| Carnival in Burnham-on-Sea | |
|
Carnival is a HUGE thing in our corner of the country.
The celebration dates to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. While Guy Fawkes was
executed for the plot, it was a Jesuit priest, Robert Parson, who instigated the plot.
He was from nearby Bridgwater (Nether Stowey). Bonfire night is a major annual celebration
across England, but people in the West Country took the event more to heart as
people were predominately Protestant.
Nowadays the political and religious background is not very prominent in the annual carnival. Carnival Clubs are formed as soon as this year's carnival ends, and they work on designing and building their amazing carts all year. We are told to never call the carts "floats" no matter how tempting it is! The competition to win is fierce although there are 27 different classes in the competition! There were over 40 carts this year. So with local knowledge (thanks to Liz and Matthew), we knew to bring our folding chairs, warm clothing, and patience to the end of our road and wait for the fun to come to us. We also found that we live right at the end of the parade where the carts are dispersed. |
|
|
|
| The best entry winner in 2024 was the "Beatlemania" cart. Nice music and colourful costumes. | |
|
|
| Our favourite cart was called "Country Kidz".They won "best local entry", "Chairman's Choice", and came third in the "juvenile feature" category. | |
|
|
| There is also a category for "Tableaux Mounted" carts where the people must stand perfectly still for the many hours the parade takes. Very impressive and our favourite was the one celebrating Brunel - the architect who designed Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. | |
|
|
| The colourful and loud carts came rolling past us one after the other. Many of them had children dancing for many hours and still going strong when they got to our street. "Rubalo" came 1st in the juvenile category and "Bugsy Malone" came 4th. | |
|
|
| Several of the carts had a pirate theme. | |
|
|
| This cart had a carnival theme with Bourbon Street, New Orleans. | |
|
|
| These carts celebrated building cars and making it work. | |
|
|
| "Cary Comedians" had a farm theme and came 2nd in the comic feature. | |
|
|
| Another one of our favourites was "Pinball", which also won several prices including best "Technical Achievement". Good music! | |
|
Postscript: A good day to bring folding chairs, blankets, hats, and gloves. |
November 2024