In Malta, Carnival is celebrated for five days leading up to Lent. There were large celebrations in Valletta and on the island of Gozo from February 28th through March 4th. We went to Valletta three times during Carnival and loved the celebrations.
The name Carnival originates from the Italian phrase ‘Carne vale’, which literally means ‘meat is allowed’ due to the fact that during the forty days of Lent, meat consumption was not permitted in the Roman Catholic religion. This is why carnival is celebrated before the austerity of Lent.
In Malta, Carnival is called Zmien ta’ bluha or ‘a time of foolishness’.
The girls and I went to Valletta on Saturday morning to watch the dance competitions. The first dance of the morning was this one – the Il-Parata, which is a re-enactment in dance form of the 1565 struggle between the forces of Maltese and Knights of St John against those of the Muslim Turks.
We were so impressed by everything! The floats were amazing – huge, detailed, brightly colored and with moveable parts.
The costumes were so elaborate and colorful, too. Not only were the dancers all dressed up but so were most of the children, also in elaborate costumes. It’s their chance to dress up like Halloween, but for five days!
I found some information about how they make these floats here: http://www.valletta2018.org/about/v18-news-overview/v18-news/Carnival-float-making
We went to Valletta again on Sunday morning with Jon. We saw more huge floats, beautiful costumes and tons of people. Everybody was having a great time- the whole city was filled with exuberance!
We ate lunch from one of the many food vendors in the area. The girls had hotdogs (surprise!) and once again they were served with baked beans right in the bun. It’s actually pretty good!
In addition to gorging on meat before Lent, many people devour sweets during Carnival. There were many stands and this one sold traditional Maltese cake which they sliced off this chunk. It was kind of like dry cookie dough with candied citrus and chocolate chips.
We found King Carnival on one of the side streets. I like how his ring says DAD. 🙂
We followed the king around for a while. It was fun watching the driver navigate the huge float on the narrow streets.
In the 1920s and 30s the caricature of political figures often led to tense situations that induced the Government to ban such customs from future editions of Carnival. This ban lasted until this year when it was realized that there were no such laws in the Maltese Legislature that restricted carnival floats depicting political satire. So this year, after a long hiatus, floats were allowed to show political satire. Many of the floats featured prominent members of the government with symbols that were generally beyond our limited knowledge of Malta politics.
Taking a back road to the bus terminal to avoid the crowds and loud music.
We went back one last time on Monday night to see the floats in the dark.
We watched some of the float competition. Each float and its associated dancers would pull up to the arena. There were dancers on the ground and on the float dancing to very loud music. The floats were judged on the theme, the float itself and the dancers.
Okay, one more sweet treat! I liked the treats at the other stand (the one with the cake) better. Those sweets were Nutella based – yum! The treats at this stand were made with chestnut paste, candied citrus and spices – not as appealing to my palate.
I found this blog to be helpful in learning more about Carnival:
SylLy Acres 
March 5, 2014 at 11:07 pm
OH, MY GOODNESS! My eyes are bugging out! What great photos and how exciting that you were in Malta at the right time to see this!
March 6, 2014 at 2:01 am
Wow! Those floats are amazing! No wonder you went back so many times! I love how they take up almost an entire street. The sweets don’t sound appealing to me, but they sure do look great!
March 6, 2014 at 7:48 pm
I really like Sylvia’s costume. 🙂
The nighttime stuff is pretty amazing. there’s some creative people with a lot of time on their hands.