The Netherlands has another agonizing dilemma: can the carnival continue? Panic everywhere. Deliberating mayors, moaning pub owners, freaking out revelers (I still had to search quite a bit for the third alliteration).
The mayors of the carnival towns held a diligent meeting with Minister Yesilgöz of Justice and Security, after which, in good Dutch tradition, the hot potato was postponed to mid-February. There were still many scenarios on the table, according to the minister. Mayor Bruls, chairman of the Security Council (yes), mainly wondered what to do with the distance rule of one and a half meters: temporarily abolish or not?
Let me immediately help the minister and the carnival mayors out of that dream: a carnival in which the revelers constantly have to be one and a half meters away from each other is unimaginable. It’s similar to a touchless wrestling world championship; or a coitus without genitals. Also carnival is touch. It is impossible without dancing, hugging and kissing. If that is no longer allowed, the party should be called off.
I can talk about it a bit, because I met my wife over fifty years ago during a carnival. In Venlo, carnival city par excellence. She came from Eindhoven, where they had understood little about carnival at the time – so I had a lot to explain.
Not long after, we set out from the south. We never celebrated carnival again. I especially thought it was a party for young, unfettered people, although I know that many older celebrants don’t experience it that way; they may be the real carnival-goers, the ones who celebrate it without any erotic ulterior motives.
Can the south of the country do without carnival? The foursome, of course, don’t think so. “Carnival is the cement of society,” said one of them, a Limburger, in the newspaper. If so, they must have built up a very sound society together in Limburg, without favoritism and other forms of corruption.
Everything shows that the authorities would prefer to ban the carnival this year. Mayor Jorritsma of Eindhoven said: “People want to lug from cafe to cafe. We can try to facilitate all of this via QR codes. We will try to do that, but I will hold my breath.” And mayor Annemarie Penn–te Strake of Maastricht: „On Saturday we have six boas in the city. If you see how many people celebrate carnival, that is impossible.”
Yet none of these authorities say decisively: “Sorry, too bad, sorry, but alas, no carnival this year either.” It is hoped that favorable pandemic figures in two weeks will offer sufficient solace. The question is how long those figures will remain favorable after that if carnival culminates in a hotbed of contamination. If a party is suitable for that, then it is carnival, which turns the city into one big café.
But the authorities have become afraid of the citizens, that is, the angry citizens among them. They might not be satisfied with a carnival ban by going out on the street singing and laughing. And there you are with your six boas. The mayors are not enviable. To consent is as risky as to prohibit.
Also read this article: Brabant Oosterhout moves carnival to June
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of February 2, 2022
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