Willothewisp

Posts Tagged ‘Carnival’

Carnival Breasts

Nina and I had been out to collect Hilke from her physical therapy appointment. Hilke has spina bifida and every few weeks we have a physical therapist work with her to help her develop her walking and attend to any movement problems she has. It is a pretty tough couple of hours for her but productive so afterwards we told her she would not have to go back to school but instead we would do what she wanted to do for the afternoon. Her wish was to go shopping for Carnival things.

This is the Catholic area of our country and so here in Limberg each year we have four wonderful days where reality takes a back seat and we dive into Carnival. The show starts for real on Carnival Sunday, when brass bands march through the city streets. Later, stages are set up for live music and DJs. Meanwhile, fancy dress parties take place in neighborhoods throughout the city, each with music and entertainment laid on. Maastricht’s many bars stay open all night through carnival, and the crowds enjoy singing and dancing in the streets, most of them wearing their ‘pekskes’ (carnival costumes). The festival begins with hoisting the celebratory flag atop the flagpole and the sounds of cannon fire, along with the “greengrocerwoman.” The greengrocer woman is a symbol of luck and good fortune. The cannon is fired in the centre of town on the Vrijthof Square. This is the start of three glorious days of non-stop partying. An impressive parade marches jubilantly through town with participants stopping to chat, or eat, or shop, and then rejoining the festive throng. People are everywhere, in the streets and in the pubs, enjoying life! It is an amazing site to see the crowds watching the parade, as well as those participating in the march.

Maastricht Carnival Page here.

Each year I make up some costumes on my sewing machine and we let the children accessorize their outfits with carnival tat that they find on sale around the town this time of year. It has become one of their favorite times of year and about the only occasion I allow a loosening up the reins of sensible spending of their pocket money, we even top up their modest allowances with some extra gifts. With carnival just eighteen days away Hilke knew just what she wanted to do and for the next few hours she dragged Nina, Mariaske, Joost and I around looking at the Carnival costumes and accessories for sale in the various stores. The added wrinkle is that as far as she is concerned, herself and her guide dog Jos are one and therefore BOTH require suitable attire for Carnival !

After two hours Joost let us know it was time for his feed so we went for refreshments in the Bijenkorf restaurant. The Bijenkorf has a big café on the top floor with a nice lounge sitting area and good baby facilities. They offer a good range of fresh fruits and vegetables and snacks prepared and cooked from raw ingredients right in front of you so I like it there. Being lunch time it was busy but we got a place at one end of the big long communal tables. Sitting opposite us were some young women of the over made up, over coiffure type. Nails were long and perfect, dyed haired precise, make re-applied repeatedly, reading material was the glossy female magazine type full of stories of “Celebes”. One had a very low cut blouse and was clearly showing off her assets. They may have been worth showing off if they were so clearly not her breasts but those found in a silicon factory. She had a bad boob job with the lines of the implants clearly visible under her skin, the silly girl had gone for implants that were cheap and too big and the result was just plain silly, though she appeared unable to see it.

When I started to discreetly nurse Joost it did seem to attract a lot of attention from the young lady and after a few minutes she was leaning more on the table, almost pushing herself up and out – so to speak. It was a strange reaction and made me think that this woman was not entirely sure about the choices she had made about her body.

Hilke also noticed how the girl was watching. Hilke is a very bright little girl for a nine year old. She reads at the age of a sixteen year old and is very, very good observer of humanity. I suspect that growing up in a deaf household she has just got very adept at reading body language and mannerisms. She is also highly articulate and quick with her tongue, so when I saw her considering this woman so carefully I started to get uneasy…………………………………………………

Sitting next to me at the table Hilke went through some of her Carnival purchases with Nina while all the time keeping an eye on the busty young woman as she watched me nurse. Hilke was listing each one of her purchases and what she wanted to do with them when she suddenly paused. I knew instantly the moment had come, being a student of Hilke’s body language myself ! Speaking in what I was told later was a very strident voice she said;

“And look Mama” (“Mama” is Nina, I am “Moeder”) pointing to me breastfeeding “ REAL breasts here but over there………” pointing to the extensive bosom on display on the opposite side of the table “ CARNIVIAL BREASTS !” and then laughing very loudly at her own joke !

The whole restaurant stopped, everyone looked. The poor young woman was clearly horrified to have her pride and joy breasts mocked by a mere nine year old disabled girl and so she quickly moved to stuff her two puppies back down into her top and wrap her coat around her as she rather hurriedly departed.

We both looked to Hilke about to reprimand her for her somewhat brutal treatment of what must have been a rather unfortunately shallow young woman. She shrugged her shoulders and held up her hand palm open and said;

“Well they WERE like carnival breasts, No WAYYYYYYYY were they real !”.

Author: Judith.