The Nice Carnival returns from February 11 to 27, 2022 on the theme The King of Animals. For this edition of the reunion, after the cancellation of the carnival 2021 because of the health crisis, 17 decorated and animated floats have been imagined by the carnivalists. Here is our top 5 (necessarily subjective) of the most beautiful floats of the carnival of Nice 2022.
For this edition of the carnival of Nice 2022 on the theme the king of the animals, I had the chance to attend the illuminated parade of February 12 on the Place Masséna.
As tradition dictates, the parade was opened by the king's float.
One might have expected that the King of Animals would represent a lion, but it is not so! In fact, this king looks more like a faun, complete with horns and goat hooves.
Copyright: Audrey Vautherot
But above all, his float pays homage to the Niçois animal par excellence, I mean of course the eagle that appears on the city's coat of arms since 1431!
Not only does the king ride a giant red eagle and wear this symbol on his crown, but he holds an eagle with spread wings on his left arm and a nest containing small animated eaglets in his right hand.
The most Niçois of the floats of the corso is without question that of the king of the carnival!
As the tradition of the Carnival of nice wants, the parade always includes a queen matched with its king because imagined on the theme of the year...
For this Nice carnival 2022, the wife of the King of the Animals pays tribute to another Nice symbol: the Ratapignata!
If the red eagle on the Nice flag is known to all, the bat or ratapignata is a more local identity symbol.
It is part of the iconography of the County of Nice where it represents the valleys of the County and the resistance to the invader.
Complementary to the red eagle, this black bat forms an inseparable duo with him. It should also be noted that red and black are the two colors of the local soccer club OGCNice.
On the queen's float, the carnival workers offered a more girly vision of the Ratapignata with Purple as the dominant color. The queen wears wings and a bat headdress.
At 18 meters tall, she seems to emerge from a Gothic castle (which is perhaps a reference to the Dracula myth?).
Copyright: Audrey Vautherot
Despite the king of the carnival, the most spectacular float of this 2022 edition is perhaps the king of the jungle...
This float named Let us live represents the wildlife through the animals of the jungle. It is dominated by a giant gorilla with King Kong looks that holds several prisoners in his hands.
Copyright: Audrey Vautherot
If the explorer in his right hand is a cardboard carnival character, the young woman held captive in a net in her left hand is real!
It is an acrobat who performs figures under the amazed eyes of the public, while the float advances on the Place Masséna.
Because it mixes carnival tradition with circus arts and live performance, this float is my favorite of the entire corso.
One of the funniest floats at the parade is the one depicting a zebra and a dalmatian.
When the float arrives on the Place Masséna, these two black and white animals seem to have exchanged their coats since the dog is zebra and the zebra is spotted!
Copyright: Audrey Vautherot
A closer look at the characters depicted on this float allows us to understand the origin of this mysterious quid pro quo. These are hilarious prankster monkeys who have repainted the two animals to their liking.
In this year of presidential elections, the Carnival of nice 2022 could not ignore the presidential candidates.
Caricature and political satire are indeed part of the traditions of our carnival. Whatever the theme of the Nice carnival, politics is never very far.
Every year we find on the floats the same impertinence as in the famous TV show Les Guignols de l'info!
To represent the candidates for the 2022 presidential election, carnival-goers have come up with a float called The Crab Basket.
Copyright: Audrey Vautherot
Politicians who aspire to the presidency of the Republic, such as Valérie Pécresse, Éric Zemmour or Marine Le Pen are represented in the form of crabs, on a float dominated by the caricature of the current president, Emmanuel Macron.
Here's a look at these floats and more in video :
???? AND IT'S ON! ???????? The first illuminated Corso of the #NiceCarnaval 2022 was a full house Saturday night! ???????????????? Back in pictures on this magical evening ?#ILoveNice???? : Carnival of #Nice06 - @VilledeNice pic.twitter.com/6UwVBZ4JaK- Carnival of nice (@NiceCarnaval) February 14, 2022
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