The Thursday before Ash Wednesday is when all the mayhem started and not just in my little town of Chiasso, but all over Switzerland, especially in Bern and Luzern.  Snow White, the Smirfs, and Peter Pan were all there and I fear that they won’t leave until late on Tuesday night.  Why have 3 of my close childhood friends decided to make an appearance in Switzerland? One word...CARNIVALE!!!

Now, the carnivale that takes place in Switzerland is similar to but different from the carnivale that takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Both carnivals take place during the same time period, right before lent, and both are based around the same disputed origins, one being that carnivale is based on pagan traditions of using fearsome masks to chase away evil spirits.  The main differences between the two carnivales being the number of participants and the season in which they occur.  Rio de Janeiro is the largest carnival celebration in the world, attracting thousands of natives, tourists and vacationers.  The carnivale in Brazil also takes place during the warmer months of summer, compared to the colder months of winter in Switzerland.  The difference in temperatures allows for a difference in costumes and probably leads to longer nights for the party goers who by 4am do not have toes and feet “come gelato” (freezing, or like ice cream.)  

This past week carnivale didn’t start until Thursday, but we started preparing for it on Monday.  Monday morning, Cinthia, Onorina and I drove to the morning market in Como, Italy in search for costume materials.  Monday mornings in Como are an absolute ZOO! We spent an hour and a half driving around trying to find a parking spot.  There were so many people at the market that I wondered if anyone in Italy worked on Mondays!  After finding our material and drinking a cappuccino we removed ourselves from the chaos and headed back home.  On the way home, Ono said “guardare quella lingua verde!” which means, “look at that green tongue!”  At first I hadn’t the foggiest clue as to what she was talking about, but then we turned the corner and I had a clear view of the mountain to our right.  There must have been an avalanche on the mountain because there was a green strip of trees, the shape of a tongue, that was stretching down the front of the mountain.  The snow that had crumbled away had revealed the green undergrowth of the trees and shrubs beneath it.  

Now that we had collected all of our materials, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent spray painting, stapling and sewing together our outfits.  Thursday night came around and as the sun went down and dusk settled in it was time for the four of us to show ourselves.  As we walked down the streets of Chiasso I could hear the comments of the people we passed, “guarda, 4 vampiri!”  So, have you figured out what we were? You are correct if you guessed VAMPIRES!  I’ll attach a picture of us so that you can see our handy work;)

Myself and Cinthia.  Be afraid. Be VERY afraid!

The men's basketball president went as a large bumble bee:)

Mirko, Cinthia's brother, and his Guggen outfit.

A guggen band playing away on Church steps in the town of Bellinzona.

The party was full of music, dancing, bands, and plenty of great costumes.  There are many different bands who travel around to all the different carnivale venues, all of these bands are called Guggens.  Each band is dressed differently but they are all dressed in brilliant colors wearing magnificent hats and covered in face paint and glitter.  Thursday night was my first taste of Carnivale, but it wouldn’t be my last.  Friday afternoon there was a children’s parade in Chiasso and since Cinthia and her mom are both teachers at two different schools in Chiasso, I was invited to take part in the parade.  I walked with Liliana, and her class.  The theme of our class was 101 Dalmatians.  All of the little 2nd graders were dressed up as dalmatians, all of the teachers went as Cruella de Vil and then myself and another retired teacher went as Cruella’s cronies, Horace and Jasper!  I dressed in an old, brown, checkered suit coat, with a brown corduroy hat, drawn on mustache and carried a cage that had stuffed animal dalmatians inside.  We paraded through the streets and threw confetti at the spectators.  The other classes were dressed just as fantastically as we were; there were wizards, bumblebees, trees, space cadets, and dinosaurs!  A Guggen group also accompanied us, so there was plenty of music as well.  

Myself as Jasper and Liliana (mother of Cinthia) as Cruella De Vil.

Friday night there was another carnivale taking place but I had to say no so that I could go to bed and rest up for Saturday’s game.  On Saturday we played Nyon.  We just played Nyon about 4 weeks ago and got crushed by 30pts.  However, this week everyone was healthy and we had 3 weeks of practice under our belts with our new coach.  We started the game quickly rattling off 10pts in the first couple minutes, which lead to a Nyon timeout.  After their attempt to cool us down, disrupt our rhythm and collect themselves, we took the floor again and capitalized on several more plays.  Going into halftime we found ourselves leading by 20pts.  Now, it seems like whenever a team is up by a good margin at half time, they start the 2nd half out flat and their opponents charge the floor like gangbusters.  No matter how hard I told myself that we weren’t going to be that team, we were.  Nyon made a comeback and pulled to within 10pts.  I could hear Aldo yelling from the bench “SVEGLIATI!” “WAKE-UP!”  The end of the game finished with Riva winning by 10pts, which means that we move on in the league cup.  All of these Cups might sound confusing, we were eliminated from the Swiss Cup, but we are still in the League Cup and then there is the regular conference play.  Our next league cup game is this Wednesday, at Neuchatel.  We just played them last Sunday and received a lashing, but I have better feelings about this next game.  

So, after Saturdays win what else would I be doing than getting ready for another Carnivale?!  This time the party was taking place in Bellinzona, the same place that I went to and saw the castles.  Myself, Cinthia and Lisa (my teammate, cousin of Cinthia) jumped on a 9:45pm train and sped along with all the other carnival goers to Bellinzona.  There were a lot more people at this party than there were in Chiasso.  Once again I enjoyed checking out everyone’s outfits, among them were Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, the Smurfs and Peter Pan.  The Guggens were out in full force and even more magnificent than they were in Chiasso, playing songs from the movie Mamma Mia! The colors were dazzling and the air was heavy with the smell of freshly made kebabs and chocolate crepes.  Saturday night was a night to remember, but I am told that the best is yet to come.  Supposedly, Monday night in Chiasso is the favorite night of Carnivale.  Can you imagine celebrating Halloween for almost a week straight?  These people are die hard carnivale fans!

Myself + Snow White and the Dwarfs.

Oh, and something else real quick, the traditional carnivale food in Ticino is risotto.  I am sure that many of you have had risotto before, but for those of you who are a bit unfamiliar it is comparable to the consistency of thick oatmeal, but made out of rice.  Cinthia came over for lunch on Thursday afternoon and taught me how to make it, DELICIOUS!  

Sunday was spent relaxing and not doing much of anything.  I hope everyone had a good weekend.  I heard that MN got hit with some snow.  Thank you to everyone who sent me their favorite Classic Authors and books, I will take my list to the Library and hopefully find some of your recommendations! 

Love,

Leslie