This month, I celebrated the local carnival, or "Keramis", of Rob's home town Heemskerk. The festival began in the middle ages, and today is celebrated as part Oktober-fest part carnival. It runs from Wednesday to Friday. Rob and I met up with friends Yolande and Wouter to celebrate.
We began the evening at the carnival portion, held on a large field on the edge of town. They had the standard roller coasters, ferris wheel, game booths and food stands. As well as gargantuan sticks of cotton candy and ice creams, some of the food was more dutch - Olliballes - a sort of large powderded donout ball, and fresh "stroop vaffels" (Syrup Waffels).
We enjoyed a ride in the “sprooks huis”, or ghost house – a little taste of Halloween. We also rode the ferris wheel, which gave a beautiful overview of the town and carnival site. We played carnival games and Rob got me a cute “I love you” balloon.
We then moved on to the "Oktober-fest" part, which took place on the main street of the town. There were a few huge party tents with music and dancing, and all bars were open. The hard core celbrants take 3 days off work to get the full celebration in. They go to the pubs when they open at about noon, and party until 1 am when they close. Not being as dedicated, Rob and I only went for a few hours on the Friday evening.
In the party tent, it was crowds of happy people dancing and celebrating. Some of the music was a familiar mix of top 40, oldies, and hip-hop. They also had some very odd german "ski beer party music" which consisted of - no I am NOT kidding- accordian music and YODLING for one song!!! It was very bizarre. I felt like grabbing my liederhozen and little feathered cap and doing a german jig.
Well, it was all in all, a very fun evening and a taste of the local traditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment