Februari Feesten

Carnival comes early to Maastricht this year: Feb 7-9. My PT tells me that, since the mayor has to parade through the Wyck atop his float in early January, the Christmas garland had to come down the day after New Year’s to make way.

 

I missed the parade, but there is an unusual amount of prep going on well ahead of the usual time.  Store windows are already being boarded up, the painted murals appearing along the ‘skade.  Bert and Benthe are putting up real Venetian masks at Le Cle, next door.

In the middle of gearing up my Carnival thinking, I got a message from a US friend: Did I know what the February Kruikenjacht celebration is? 

She sent this helpful picture of a trophy.

This took some digging.  The Kruikenjacht seems to be a winter competition held in woodlands north of Amsterdam.  Web sites indicate a cold February weekend in the , a mix of orienteering and pub-crawl.  Teams of two or three sleeping out overnight, hike from pub to pub,during the days.  There is a party at the end and awarding of a stone-bottle trophy. 

The video summary raises more questions that it answers for me.  

I likely prefer Carnival, but has any reader done this, or knows more about it?