Monaco Ville en fete et son Sciaratu
From 17:00 to midnight, parade with a sea theme, music and dancing, entertainment for kids and a ball at the place de la Mairie.
For several years the Mairie has organized a summer Medieval Festival in the old town. This year, the event is returning to its roots with a modern reincarnation of the traditional Monaco Ville en Fete et son Sciaratu (Monaco Town Festival and its Carnival King).
Historically, during the weeks leading up to Lent, people took to the streets of the Rocher wearing costumes and making mischief, a tradition that can still be found in many European towns. Groups of youths (i Mufi) wearing cotton bonnets and dresses would make a straw man (u payassu) and use bed sheets to throw it up in the air and catch it.
Over time, the duration of the festival shrank to 3 days, and the youths became less raucous, but the payassu remained and was ceremoniously hanged and burned on the Place de la Mairie on mardi-gras. More recently, the Roca Club, which organizes Carnaval, has included floats and music to create a festival parade. The payassu became a carnival king (Sciaratu), carried through the streets on a chariot.
Returning to the present, the parade still takes place, but during summer rather than the more traditional February time.
- Parade
Starts from Place du Palais, via the Cathedral, Musee Oceanographique, Place de la Visitation, rue des Remparts, and returning to the Place du Palais. - Music and dancing
Exoticadanse, Charly Vaudano, La Grosse Couture - Street entertainment
balloon sculptors, caricaturists, ventriloquists, Bigbrozeurs, Bebe Charli - rue de l'Eglise
circus entertainment and circus workshops - place de la Mairie
country music line dancing demonstration, puppet show, face painting
21:00, grand ball with DJ
