Roll up, roll up

Justicia Shipena

Carnivals come in many shapes and sizes and are celebrated all over the world.

Namibia is, however, one of the last places where you would expect carnival festivities to be celebrated.

Founded in 1952, Wika is a buzzing organisation consisting of about 30 committee members who organise the annual event.

Wika was celebrated for the first time in 1953. A small group of immigrants from Germany organised an event that turned out to be one of the highlights on the local cultural calendar.

And it is here to stay, because Namibia's multicultural society forms the perfect setting for this type of celebration that embraces all the country's language groups.

Under the theme ‘Wika Konfetti, Alles Paletti’ asserting the fact that the locals have practised the event for many decades, the 10-day event is expected to run smoothly.

Wika has been making waves for 66 years as a social event on Windhoek’s calendar.

In May 1953, when the first Wika was held, a total of 800 people attended the event. However, this year the carnival has thousands of people attending it.

Wika started off with a royal ball known as the Prinzenball in German on 5 April.

The royal ball is the highlight of the carnival as it marks the crowning ceremony of Wika's new royal couple, whose identity is kept strictly confidential until that evening.

The outgoing couple, the chair and the presidents of the carnival society elect the prince and the princess. The royal ball also marks the exit of the royal couple that ruled the city's carnival fools for the past year.

During the course of the evening, a representative of the city council hands over a huge key to the new royal couple. This is to symbolise that for the duration of carnival proceedings, the fate of the city and thereby the entire community lies in the hands of the new carnival rulers and their followers - all those who visit the various events.

The following day on 6 April the carnival introduces a street parade starting from the Windhoek Showgrounds, along Independence Avenue, which concludes at TransNamib.

The float procession not only introduces the prince and the princess to the city folk, it also makes people aware that the annual carnival season has officially kicked off and is ready to move full-steam ahead.

To educate the people in the tradition of carnival, Wika organises events not only for adults, but also for the youth and children.

On the same day in the evening the carnival hosted a youth carnival called Juka at Sports Klub Windhoek (SKW) and a kids’ carnival (KikaWi) on 7 April.

The youth carnival, the children's carnival, the ladies and men's evening, two international evenings (hosted in English), buttenabend (hosted in German) and a fancy-dress ball dominate the remainder of the carnival's activities.

Over the years the way the carnival has been presented has changed several times, but the credo has remained the same - to keep it as close to the carnivals held in Germany as possible.

This includes having a royal couple, royal guards, a jester and a Bütt, the rostrum that looks like half a beer vat in which the speaker stands when mocking everyone and everything.

During this event the reigning royal couple perform one of their last official duties by addressing a city council representative and hundreds of guests, who enjoy the bright sunshine, live music, beer and good food.