As per usual, to begin Lent, the period of righteousness and temperance, the Kytherians “let their hair down” (even more than usual!) in celebration of the Carnival. And they certainly did it justice! Two parades, in Livadi and Potamos, on the weekend before Carnival weekend in Livadi and on Carnival weekend in Potamos, both on a Sunday. And both quite spectacular, effort was obvious from all sides, young and old alike, and congratulations are in order!
What always amazes me is the ability of the Kytherians to create such topical pieces for the Carnival. Almost every float/parade/model was a perfect parody of the latest news, be it weather conditions, transport problems, political arguments between Blair/Bush, or… actually I’d better not print that bit!
Livadi Carnival’s high spots were the mascot, a fantastic papier-mache mermaid of large proportion, the many suggestions for new modes of transport, including helicopters, air balloons, fishing boats or trailers pulled by a child’s tricycle (complete with poem) etc… Actually there were rather a lot of contributions about the transport this year… wonder why?
Ali Baba and his forty thieves also made an appearance, as did Asterix-Obelix, a beautiful circus and some very seductive spiders.
The weather was also a favourite topic, and the Avlemonas lorry stole the show with falling rocks and rain. Some very small weather conditions from a kindergarten got many “aww”s from the audience, and Livadi school consisted of lots of small cooks following a large bag of flower.
The twelve gods of Olympus trundled in and introduced themselves, and then along came various tractors pulling trailers crowned with scenes from the many restaurants/bars/clubs we all enjoy around here during winter (funny that, I never knew there were any…). There were also the usual amount of take offs from pop stars and television programs.
All in all the parade was most enjoyable and was rounded off with my personal favourite, the traditional may pole danced beautifully by lyceum kids in costume. A bigger crowd could perhaps have been wished for, but excluding that fact the event was a great success, bravo Livadi!
Potamos Carnival took place the next weekend, with a slightly larger crowd as witness, and an even larger mascot, made by the baker, and how he did it I will never know! Again transport was a favourite theme, but Ag.Pelagia school’s creation beat the rest, what an amazing idea for Kythera air lines! The two boats also put in an appearance in a rather smaller shape again from Pelagia school, well done kids! Another larger boat with a variety of strange looking characters aboard, and last but definitely not least, the most modernized and original method of transport, the donkey! (three of them!)
The other favourite topic was again the weather, and Avlemonas beat the rest with their beautiful igloo and some very cute three feet high penguins.
A lot of dwarfs and then a lot of Karagiozi look-alikes appeared, and a strange mixture of characters no one was really sure about.
There followed the usual television take offs, and then some obscure play with a sheep, a sheriff and some village idiots… I doubt the poor sheep will ever get over it… Bush and Bin-Laden also graced us with their appearance, I think the outcome was that Saudi-Arabia was going to be stuck in the region of the island of Kythera, aiding the locals to reach the mainland without having to worry about the boats anymore…
As in Livadi the may pole rounded the show off beautifully, and so as the celebrations ended and the crowd dispersed, it was agreed all round, this year’s Carnivals certainly beat the rest! And now, who’s coming to the café?