If there is any special weekend in my life, this is it. And it only takes two days, why? Because it's a long weekend in Argentina, 4 days in a row, of popular artistic and street festivities. It's summer and we deserve to dance, to play with foam, light bulbs, water bobbins and to have laughter in our hearts. We dance from the most porteño side of the carnival, very dressed up, very covered, very tango. With funyi, with lengue, with jabot, with very old traditions of the country, which I will talk about some other time, but today, what really matters, is that it is still carnival and although it is already Monday, I am getting ready to go from neighbourhood to neighbourhood and remember the days gone by. The emotions on the surface, the perspiration, the photos. The greetings afterwards. Hanging clothes on the buses to dry, singing "an elephant was swinging...".
It almost seems like a graduation trip, it's almost a party among friends, but in reality, it's the fruit of group work and commitment, as a civil association, the murga, at least ours, takes on a different role, facing with responsibility the artistic event that unites us, that brings us closer to the street, to the people and to the celebration of all equally. Because the day of the presentation arrives and nothing matters, we are here, it doesn't matter if you didn't come before, if you didn't arrive in perfect clothes, it doesn't matter if your make-up looks ugly, or if you sweat a lot, it doesn't matter if you make a mistake in a step or in a drumbeat, it doesn't matter if the sound is bad, nor if it is loud. It's all very neat and tidy, but rather than getting nervous about details, there is only one thing that matters: enjoyment.
Finding pleasure in popular art is surely not for everyone, you have to like seeing the whole town smile, a party that does not discriminate, a party that unites, you have to like the group embrace, the unbridled shouting, and perhaps be passionate about laughter, about mistakes, about something that falls apart and only think about not losing it to fix it another day.You have to like to profess love, like our teachers, or like our grandmothers, passion and tenderness have to be stronger. You have to make friends with the person next to you, even if you don't know them, you have to learn to know how to help and to ask for help too. You have to let yourself be touched and keep smiling while we toast to another night of carnival.
This popular festival leaves me with many friends, many known neighbourhoods, many to be known, it leaves me tired and happy, and for the third night in a row, I take a shower, I paint myself and I go out to meet my coloured brothers and sisters, to bring joy to Villa Ballester and Ituzaingó. Today these neighbourhoods are dressed in carnival clothes while Momo, capricious, makes it rain early and refreshes us at night, so that later the tiredness is not so great, so that we can laugh and celebrate without peace, without forgiveness, with glory. Every weekend in February is Carnival. And it is also "Carnival all your life and a night with you".
I hope you liked my weekend story, which repeats itself endlessly, and that you have a beautiful carnival wherever you are!!!
Thanks for reading me, Kiki✨
I own the rights to all the photos I used in this post Pictures taken with a Samsung A42 📷 Translated with DeepLearning Let's talk on Discord: littlesorceress #8877 Pictures edited in Canva
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