Huge
Carnival crowd worries anthropologist [27/02/04]
- by Pierre J.
Mejlak
The
thousands of people who turned up for this year's Nadur spontaneous
Carnival, especially on Saturday, worried anthropologist Dr Vicki Ann
Cremona, who has been studying the Nadur Carnival since the late
eighties.
"The massive presence of people coming from outside Nadur, particularly Maltese, upset the delicate balance between spectators and participants. The masked characters were engulfed by the mass and therefore seemed much fewer than they really were. Also, lack of space did not allow them to engage in their 'games' which made everyone lose out on the general fun,” Dr Cremona told june29th.com.
She added that something must be done and is asking whether it's time for the local authorities to seriously think about lengthening the road for the defile on Saturdays.
"The
crowd was so numerous that at times it became dangerous - as the floats
could not pass, and people were pushed on to others, unable to move.
Should one envisage lengthening the road for the defile on Saturdays,
even though this has the disadvantage of breaking tradition?"
Dr Cremona believes that the crowd is taking up all the space which was always reserved for the revelers. "The audience has encroached on the space and therefore theatricality is not allowed to be performed."
Dr Vicki Ann Cremona has studied the spontaneous Carnival at Nadur and published the first documentary on Nadur Carnival in 1992. Since then, hundreds of Maltese people started crossing the channel to experience Nadur's Carnival.
