Eindhoven becomes Lampegat!

A vibrant carnival celebration in the Netherlands

Carnival is not just about costumes and parades; it’s about embracing the diversity of human expression and celebrating life in all its colors.

Last weekend, Sangam and I decided to have fun at the carnival in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is a five-day festive celebration at 130 different locations within Eindhoven city. The carnival is to celebrate the beginning of 40 days of fasting, which is observed before Easter. This year, the carnival started from Friday, February 9 to Tuesday, February 13, 2024.

During this time, each town or city often gets a different name during carnival. For example, Eindhoven is known as Lampegat during this period, which can be quite confusing for people unaware of this transformation.

This time the carnival parade was supposed to commence from the central station in Eindhoven. We reached the Eindhoven central station around noon. As soon as we got out of the station, we noticed that the entire city was buzzing with people wearing different costumes. We were the only handful of people who were without any funky costumes.

The most vibrant group was a group of young girls in red uniforms playing the marching music and celebrating loudly.

Later, we started looking for the spot from where the parade would commence. People gathered on each side of the street to watch the parade. We also managed to squeeze in and find the best spot for us to watch it.

It was a very colorful and lively parade. Each had a different theme and style. There was a group in the parade representing the current technology with popular apps on phones such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

Then there were some more different kinds of themes. Each of them played loud music with hooting and cheering. Some of them also offered us different candies and sweets.

Here are a few more snapshots captured during the parade.

All the themes of the carnival were beautiful and vibrant. However, the best theme of the carnival was Halloween. People dressed as witches were riding on a bike, that looked like a broom with spooky music playing in the background.

It was a fantastic and exhilarating experience for us. We experienced such a beautiful and vibrant parade that we decided to come again next year. Can’t wait to repeat our experience in 2025!

If you would like to read more tales of our adventures in the Netherlands, click here.