France's Dunkirk Relishes Annual 'big Mess' Of Carnival

Dunkirk, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Feb, 2024) Tens of thousands dressed up in sometimes madcap outfits, dancing in the streets and catching herrings outside the town hall: France's northern seaside city of Dunkirk is revelling in its increasingly popular annual carnival.

Revellers with painted faces -- many sporting tall umbrellas, fur coats and colourful hats adorned with pheasant feathers -- on Sunday sang songs at the top of their lungs and gave each other friendly smacks on the lips under a grey sky.

The carnival is becoming an increasingly popular attraction in Dunkirk, a city just west of the Belgian border best known to foreigners as the site of the 1940 evacuations of Allied soldiers in World War II.

"Carnival is a religion, it's a communion.

Everyone keeps in step. Everyone has fun," a man who gave his name as Laurent told AFP, as chanting participants streamed past behind him.

Crowds jostled under the balcony of the mayor's office, trying to catch smoked herrings that municipal workers tossed down below.

The carnival is said to date back to the 17th Century, originally a warm send-off for fisherman about to embark on long sea trips to catch cod off Iceland.

The herring throwing was introduced by the city's merchants in the 1960s.

Lydie, a carnival goer, said the party was a great social leveller.

"There are no lawyers, no doctors, no garbage collectors. Everyone is the same," said the woman in a green feather hat, who did not give her second name.