DUNKIRK SPIRIT
Kent Life|May 2020
May 2020 marks 80 years since Operation Dynamo and the anniversarty is being remembered on both sides of the Channel
Lucy Shrimpton
DUNKIRK SPIRIT

It’s official, the people of Dunkirk are loons. Here at the very tip of France’s hexagon, within spitting distance of the Kent coast and touching the Belgian border, I was immersing myself with the locals in the biggest, loudest, craziest carnival you’ve ever clapped eyes on.

With girls in outlandish pirate guise – and rosy-cheeked fellas looking pretty darn comfortable in wig ‘n’ tights – the Flemish folks weren’t just out, they were out out.

And boy, do they have some stamina. Back then, on Shrove Tuesday, squished as I was at a ‘rigodon’ event (think town-square scrum, boogying brass band, swaying throngs and people singing from overhanging balconies), I was impressed to learn that carnival capers last three months, peak partying involving balls, processions and all manner of quirky rituals.

There was a key moment when the mayor threw herrings from the town hall balcony (shrinkwrapped) and another when, without a cue, the crowd knelt in unison mid-song (for the record, I followed suit – it wouldn’t have done to stick out like a buttonedup Brit) before crooning a local anthem a capella.

Carnaval de Dunkerque is a time-honoured tradition, with the Dunkerquois locals up to their high-jinks for 300 years or so, ever since fisherfolk first thought it might be nice to have a bit of a knees-up before prolonged trips out to sea. It was a good thing, I now reflect, that none of us knew what was coming...

This story is from the May 2020 edition of Kent Life.

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