While the confetti is still stuck in your hair and the vocal chords crackle from singing along to all the carnival tunes, we skip straight to Valentine’s Day. It’s time to celebrate love. Love that arose while partying in the polonaise, and that is far from extinguished.
Flamingo Bregje and pirate Sebas
An Eindhoven girl who roams through the bars of Eindhoven every year and a carnival rookie from Drenthe who takes his first steps in the Brabant revelry. This is how it started for Bregje (27) and Sebas (31). She was dressed as a pink flamingo, he as a pirate. They saw each other and immediately things started to skyrocket. “We were both very enthusiastic and lifted each other up to a very pleasant level,” says Sebas.
That was eight years ago. And even though they lived more than three hours away from each other, their early love grew into something beautiful. The two of them also had a carnival in the city center of Eindhoven in recent days. With a marriage proposal, but Sebas didn’t know that yet.
“Even my two-year-old niece had a flamingo onesie on.”
“Bregje said she wanted to go somewhere for a while and pulled me by my hand into a pub,” says Sebas. “To my amazement, there were all our family and friends, all dressed up as flamingos and pirates. Even my two-year-old niece was wearing a flamingo onesie. I was really in shock.”
First the couple’s favorite song was played, then Bregje asked her boyfriend to marry him on stage, amid loud cheers from everyone present. “And of course I said yes,” said a very happy Sebas.
While they are still recovering from their romantic proposal, Valentine’s Day is also celebrated. “I received a bouquet of flowers this morning,” says Bregje. “And later this week, when everything has calmed down a bit, we’ll go out for a nice meal.”
Aladdin princess Marieke and Prince Ronald
Marieke met her Ronald at carnival in Eindhoven, many years ago. She dressed up as a princess from Aladdin, he as a prince, but it was still not a keeper. “I had consumed quite a bit of alcohol and he was very sweet and took care of me,” Marieke remembers. “I ended up staying the night with him, although not much happened. Just a little kissing, that’s it.”
“When I went to the bathroom the next day, I suddenly stepped on a Lego block with my foot. I thought, huh? Turns out he had two sons, and I realized how different our lives were. I was 24 and was still studying, while, being eleven years older, he had a large human life, with children and a good job.”
“Bert? But he’s already 80!”
They lost sight of each other and time passed, fifteen carnival celebrations long. Then, on King’s Night, while she was dancing on a stage in an orange dress, there was suddenly a new encounter.
But they didn’t recognize each other at all! “At one point I asked him where he lived. ‘In Stratum,’ he said. ‘Oh, I said, I once rode on the back of someone’s bike there to his house. But I have forgotten his name.’ “Gosh, I live in that street too,” he said. “Which house was that?”
I couldn’t remember it clearly anymore so I described his neighbor’s house. ‘Bert? But he’s already 80!’, he burst out laughing. “He had a house in the Ardennes and worked as a self-employed person for the Rabobank,” I continued. And then he shouted: “But that’s me!'”
“Celebrating and honoring love, how can you not be excited about that?”
This time it was a hit. Really spot on. And Valentine’s Day has been celebrated by the couple for five years. “Everyone says it is a commercial event, but so are Christmas and Easter,” says Marieke. “Almost no one is concerned about the birth of Jesus anymore and it is still celebrated in a big way. Celebrating and honoring love, how can you not be enthusiastic about that?”