"Edo Lemesos. Edo Lemesos, sto trello sas proskaloume Karnavalli"

I have been visiting lately the municipal archives of my city every day (and still do). Looking in dusty unorganized albums, I have collected a number of photos which had a strong impact on me but which are not relevant to the narrative of my new slide show "Wonder Land" (80 color slides in loop, presented in Arco Madrid and now in the Unfair Fair in Rome). I thought of sharing them by posting here a small selection. Since last thursday and until next monday it is carnival period in Limassol and I try once more to understand what keeps me, since my childhood, in such a safe distance from this social event, confused somewhere between rejection and admiration.




City decorations from the 80s and early 90s.




The entrance of the "King of Carnival" (Vasilia Karnavalos) is the official opening of the carnival events. On Tsignopempti (Mardi-Gras) the carriage enters the old city. Loula Seyssmith was the queen of the carnival, the one who made the statue of the King of Carnival and the one sitting next to him every year. I always remember her to be silent and lonely like in the picture. The year before she died, vandals burned the King of Carnival. She took the decision to open the carnival parade with the burned carriage. Brave and Morbid; the best thing ever happened in the Carnival







On the same day there is the shaving-cream and eggs "fight". I have never felt comfortable to participate, but I always like to go after with the cleaners. The "fight" happens in the shopping street of the city, the shops windows are completely wasted and the street smells like hell. In the past the police tried to control the event (see the photo of the police car full of stuff) but nowadays it gained its place in the official carnival events. The photos are from the end of the 80s.




When I was a kid I remember together with the Police Band and the Municipal Band to have the British Army Band (from the British Base in the Island), but not any more. Don't know if they have left or been kicked out in the process of decolonization of the carnival (from the few photos I found before the 60s most of the carriage themes were about British projections and imagery). Hope we will keep the King though (and even better burned)...



"Les Marjorettes" dressed in red always accompany The Kind of Carnival and open the Big Parate of Sunday!




Also every year there is at least one group dressed as Hawaiian girls.




Tsirio Stadium used to be the place where the Children Parade use to happen every first sunday of the Carnival. Nowadays unfortunately it take place in Anexartisias street