Anyone who knows me knows that:
1. I love pictures.
2. I love Festivals/Parades/Celebrations/Gatherings.
Anyone who doesn’t like the notion of a nonsensical diary on a political website should take this opportunity to find something else to read. The rest of y’all, *Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Mardi Gras season really began on the twelfth night, January 5, 2011 and culminates on today, March 8, 2011.
Carnival in Venice runs from February 26th through February 8, 2011.
People watch the Flight of the Venetian Rat on the Grand Canal at the Cannaregio district in Venice during the historical water parade
Picture: AFP/GETTY
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
An elderly woman, reveler of Academicos do Salgueiro samba school, performs fancy dressed as Batman at the Sambadrome, during the second night of carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 7, 2011. Rio's two nights of famously extravagant Carnival parades began late on March 6 in a burst of fireworks and to the cheers of festival goers who have been partying on the streets for days. The processions, featuring near-naked dancing queens, spectacularly imaginative floats and thousands of extras, were being held before a stadium crowd of 70,000 and an international broadcast audience. AFP PHOTO / ANTONIO SCORZA /AFP/Getty Images
Revelers of the Academicos do Salgueiro samba school perform atop a float at the Sambadrome, during the second night of carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 7, 2011. Rio's two nights of famously extravagant Carnival parades began late on March 6 in a burst of fireworks and to the cheers of festival goers who have been partying on the streets for days. The processions, featuring near-naked dancing queens, spectacularly imaginative floats and thousands of extras, were being held before a stadium crowd of 70,000 and an international broadcast audience. AFP PHOTO / VANDERLEI ALMEIDA /Getty Images)
North America
A marching group arrives at Canal Street as it marches ahead of the Krewe of Zulu on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, Tuesday, March 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Mardi Gras in New Orleans is truly the biggest party in the United States.
http://www.csmonitor.com/...
And lest you think that a Festival can’t be fun and mix political protest, here are photos from last weekend’s Mardi Gras celebration in Sydney, Australia...
Actor and comedienne Lily Tomlin rides on a car during the 34th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade in Sydney on March 5, 2011. Hundreds of thousands lined Oxford Street in Sydney on March 5 for the colourful and irreverent Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, which this year is set to highlight marriage equality. AFP PHOTO / Greg WOOD/Getty Images
Peter Tatchell stands on a float, holding a placard against the pope
Photograph: Rob Griffith/AP
This protest is for International Woman’s Day, celebrated worldwide, today…
Pasban protests against the kidnapping, abuse and trial of Aafia Siddiqui at the hands of the U.S. government on International Women’s Day. Karachi, Pakistan. 08/03/2011
A lighthearted look at International Woman's Day in Belarus…
License, registration and phone number, please: A traffic cop presents a flower to a motorist in honor of upcoming International Women's Day on March 8.
Photo: Viktor Drachev / AFP / Getty Images
And in Serbia…
A man offers a rose to a woman to mark International Women’s Day in Belgrade
Marko Djurica/Reuters
March is a month that heralds spring celebrations around the world. One of my favorites, because it combines spring with New Year, is the Holi Festival.
A boy blows a balloon while he sells water guns and balloons in preparation for Holi festivities on a street in Kathmandu March 5, 2011. Holi, also known as the festival of colours, falls on March 19 and is a Hindu spring festival where people celebrate by throwing coloured water or powder onto each other. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
Teenagers celebrate during Holi festivities in Mumbai, India. Holi, the Hindu festival of colours that also heralds the coming of spring, is being celebrated across the country
Rafiq Maqbool/AP
Fertility Festivals
Man dressed in costume and known as “Kukeri” prepare to take part in a street festival, marking Sirni Zagovezni, celebrating the pagan tradition of preparing for the upcoming spring and the re-birth of life, in Sofia, Monday, March 7, 2011. The Sunday and Monday before the observation of Lent are the main festival days, in which “Kukeri” may begin their rounds of walking around homes and by alleged magic actions, wish health, land fertility and prosperity to the hosts. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
and in Japan
KAWASAKI, JAPAN - APRIL 04: A visitor rides on a wooden phallic figure during the Kanamara Festival, or the Utamaro Festival, near Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine on April 4, 2010 in Kawasaki, Japan. The annual feritility festival, held traditionally in the cherry blossom season since the Edo era (1603-1868), is said to encourage fertility and bring harmony to married couples. In recent times the festival has raised awareness of AIDS prevention. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)
People dressed in historical costumes attend the theatrical pagan feast of the Sun and Fertility in the village of Kopachev, some 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Kiev June 5, 2010. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Spring Festivals
A participant dressed as a peacock attends a fashion carnival in Jakarta April 25, 2010. Around hundred participants took part in the colourful carnival where they dress as animals and flowers originated from Indonesia. REUTERS/Supri
China
People splash water on one another as a symbol of good luck and happiness at the Water-Sprinkling Festival in Yingjiang, Yunnan province, April 12, 2010. [Photo/CFP/China Daily]
Pride Festivals
A drag queen prepares backstage before a performance at the El Mejunje cultural center during an event commemorating International Day Against Homophobia in Santa Clara, province of Villa Clara in central Cuba, about 280 kilometers (174 miles) from Havana May 17, 2010. Much has changed in Cuba since the 1960s, when homosexuals were sent to work camps, or the 1970s, when gay men and women were denied certain jobs as “ideological deviants”. Since President Raul Castro took office, Cuba has allowed doctors to perform sex change operations and the parliament is studying proposals to legalize same-sex unions. REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa
Help me out. Maybe I got the theme to a celebration wrong. Also, I am straight, but isn’t Pride really about celebrating life, and not what makes us different, but what brings us together…A reason to celebrate.
People fight with pillows during International Pillow Fight Day in Budapest on April 3, 2010. The event is being organised worldwide on this date through social networks. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
A hot air balloon floats past people watching the sunrise at the Sun pyramids of Teotihuacan outside Mexico City during a festival as part of the spring equinox March 21, 2010. Hundreds of Mexicans and tourists gather at Teotihuacan every year to welcome spring equinox at the Pyramid of the Sun. [China Daily]
I know that I have missed some festivals. Goodness knows that I didn’t run out of photos. I decided to limit myself to Spring---It is coming...right? I didn’t even get to tell y’all about the month long rodeo and celebration going on in my city, and we didn't do St. Patrick’s Day. There's always something to celebrate…So, I’ll be back.
Mar 6 2011 8:18PM
Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle
Jimmy Fallon runs around the dirt pretending to try to get away from a police officer during the Calf Scramble.
Mar 10 2010 9:24PM
Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle
Joshua Union, 24, carries daughter Gabriella Union, 2, as they wander around the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Support the Troops Day.
*Let the good times roll!