Carnival - the world's great street parties

elyzzzza · Subject: Carnival - the world's great street parties Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:01 pm

Rio is definitely tops, but if you can't make it to Brazil why not try going to London.
London's Notting Hill Carnival attracts more than two millions visitors every year and is acknowledged as one of the top three carnivals - together with Rio and Trinidad - for the quality of its performance art and creative talent. It takes place not in February or March like others carnivals, but on the August bank holiday weekend.
Notting Hill is one of the most cosmopolitan carnivals. The dancers, musicians and masqueraders hail from around the world. Nations such as Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines have all been represented alongside Caribbean, African and South American countries.
Nevertheless, a certain amount of ambivalence characterises public perceptions of the Carnival. In the early years, when a few thousand Trinidadians paraded along Portobello Road in west London accompanied by steel drums, it was regarded as a quaint folk festival, at best. After a riot between black youths and the police in 1976, it became a metaphor for violence and thereafter was seen principally as a public order problem. Despite the growth of Carnival into a major international event that reflects London's rich cultural diversity, both these impressions linger.

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elyzzzza

RpR · Squire Number of posts: 49 Location: Heaven Registration date: 2008-01-09

We have Liberty Parade here in Romania.

vali · Villager Number of posts: 11 Registration date: 2008-01-16

That Berlin parade is quite big and cool!!!
The bigger parade in Europe maybe.