On their way

The Carnevale Season has started again in Switzerland. It’s basically a pre-Lenten celebration, but the span of events run from weeks ahead of Ash Wednesday to weeks after. The Basel Fasnacht is the largest and probably most famous of all Swiss Carnevale and that begins the Monday following Ash Wednesday. In Ticino it is a festive period, with every single community – all 135 of them – organizing their own Carnevale. Pura’s festivities took place last weekend. My favorite part of it is on Friday, when the entire school, which in Pura means the kindergarden and 1-5 elementary classes, empties out in costume to parade through our little village.

They wind their way through the ‘nucleo’ and head to the soccer field where under a giant tent lunch is served for both the children and elders of Pura.