1/3 After the parade, the carnival floats are demolished
You build, carry, bend, paint, correct, dabble, glue, cut, saw and unscrew something when you build a carnival float. Working hard for months, in the evenings and weekends, to have a colorful and original construction on wheels ready for carnival. And then in Schaijk, after a two-hour parade, on Carnival Tuesday, they just put the scissors down really hard.
“The real builders don’t want to be here,” chairman Maarten Hendriks admits. Too painful. They see their months of work, which was finally admired during the parade, being processed with a demolition truck. That is tradition in Moesland (Schaijk). “Yes, that’s a shame. But it’s also a bit of farewell.”
Every year, carnival revelers demolish their self-built floats. “It has to do with honor,” the chairman explains. “That’s it and goodbye.” Don’t sell anything, don’t reuse anything. “It’s an honor for the clubs.”
“At first I thought: what are we doing?”
Mark van Kreij, one of the builders in Moesland, is now used to the suffering. “After fourteen years, the feeling is familiar. But at first I thought: what are we doing?” he chuckles. “It’s just tradition. And it feels great. It’s not gone, the feeling remains.”
Another car builder actually sees the beauty in it. “Frustration, it all comes out!”, he says matter-of-factly. So take it out on your car. “It’s nice to get out the frustration with friends and then clean up nicely,” he continues. You almost feel like it.
They worked on the car in the evenings for months, three or four times a week. And on Sundays at the weekends. “Then you have one parade, lasting two hours. Then you dismantle the whole thing again and start from scratch.”