Carnival is a special time in the year when everybody can become somebody else – a favourite hero from a cartoon, a princess or a knight…All real and less real characters met at the fancy dress party organised by the Ladies Club on 7 February 2009.
Anybody could come to this special party; there was one condition though – to be dressed up as somebody else. Therefore, for one afternoon, princesses, spidermen, butterflies and bees, cowboys, knights, ninjas, clowns, cats and many others entered the gym at Baltic Barracks.
Ladies from the club made sure that the atmosphere was unique and prepared numerous games to entertain more than 70 kids.
The competitions were varied to meet high demands of the youngest. Obviously, there must have been some races to release children’s energy. For example, there was a special ski race in two-person teams with two skis only or a race during which two children were wearing one pair of enormous trousers…A very challenging task was to make drawings while being blindfolded. The results were sometimes completely unexpected. A lot of laughter evoked eating sweets without using hands. As a matter of fact, a lot of children’s faces got sooty with chocolate creating unique make-ups.
The most important competition of the event was “hitting a barrel”. For the needs of this game, wooden barrels were hanged down on a rope and sweets were hidden inside them. Children played in groups of four. They were standing in a row and one by one approached the barrel and hit it with a wooden cub. The game was on until one of the team managed to destroy the barrel and take the hidden sweets as trophies. Obviously, the adults helped the youngest kids.
“Hitting a barrel” is a Danish tradition that is organised at the close of the carnival, which is called “Fastalavn” in Danish. One of the most famous traditions related to it is “hitting the cat out of the barrel”. In the past, there was a real black cat put into the barrel and beating it superstitiously meant a safeguard against evil. Nowadays, the barrels are filled with sweets and fruit and only an image of a black cat put on the barrel reminds of the old times.
Among numerous attractions and games, the children could enjoy a special dancing performance prepared by the children of Szczecin International School.
Comments