Carnival in Bilbao

Carnival is BIG in Spain and gracías a díos, we are here to celebrate with the Bilbainos. Carnival started on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, with all the primary school aged children wearing their costumes on the streets and to school.  We were standing in the laundromat and had the chance to see them returning from school. Very very cute.
But Saturday was the big day. We started seeing people gathering early in the afternoon, including a group of 'convicts' we saw gathering in front of the Palacio de Justicia. We figured they were lawyers! They turned up  again, marching in the parade.

Around 5 pm, the local police started blocking the streets around our apartment, and just before 6 we joined the steady flow of people to the parade route. We didn't have to go far, just down to the end of our street and we had an excellent vantage point. Not Macy's-Thanksgiving-Day-parade crowded, more like Aptos-Fourth-of-July-parade crowded. The parade started with traditional Basque marching music:

Poncho Villa?

and continued with about 60 floats that were each accompanied by troops of 25-50 costumed revelers, tossing candy to the watching children. Each float and group had a theme and, unlike parades in the US, many of them were political in nature. Some of the social and political statements were difficult to understand, but some were pretty universal, like a circus float, followed by about 50 men, women and children all dressed as clowns. Nothing to strange there, but the float had big signs saying: Politics isn't for clowns. See, universal themes!
You'd have to know that the mayor of Bilbao was selected as one of the best mayors in the world to get the next one: A float with an effigy of the mayor topped by a halo, followed by assorted priests, bishops and nuns.
There were many floats with anti-bank/anti-multinational corporation themes. One float had big signs that said : Stop the evictions! Yes, the economy was a popular theme too.
This one was funny. Here's a group dressed like bags of wool. Written on each bag is: Made in Bilbao/80% virgin wool, 20% not so virgin. 

We left the parade undaunted by the drizzle and went to the Casco Viejo (Old Town) to refresh ourselves as parade watching is thirsty work. We were proceeded by everyone in the first half of the parade, all their   friends and family members, so it was jumpin' in the Casco Viejo. The Casco Viejo is only about 7 streets, so there weren't nearly enough bars and restaurants to hold all the partying. The costumes were fantastic; no manufactured costumes, but many creative and well made. Groups of friends, couples and families usually stuck to a theme. Pirates were very popular; there was a group of people dressed as mops. Here's a group of bees:

Tonight is Tuesday, the last night of carnival, where they "bury the sardine". Sorry, can't enlighten anyone on that yet. Maybe next post.