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Written by Femke Marijne
It is probably one of the weirdest public holidays in The
Netherlands: Carnival. But what does it mean and what
do people celebrate during this festival week? Let’s
find out!
Originally, it is a Catholic food festival; it was the last
chance to eat as much as possible before the ‘fasting
season’ started. The name ‘Carnaval’ probably derived
from the Latin words ‘Carne Vale’ which means:
‘farewell to meat’.
But nowadays the festival has changed into a big
public festival and, for most of the people, does not
have anything to do with food or belief anymore.
There are two types of Carnaval: the Bourgondische
and Rijnlandse carnaval. The tradition within the
Bourgondische carnival is to change names of big
cities:
Oeteldonk
Kielegat
Kruikenstad
Lampegat
Meestrech
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