The backstage to carnival is a busy one, says Stephanie Fsadni, as she joins two carnival companies busily putting the finishing touches to their floats.

Carnival companies are busy putting the finishing touches to their floats in preparation for the event to start on Friday. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

As carnival floats parade along Valletta’s main streets during the annual defilé, many admire the riot of colour, the floats’ themes, the dances and choreographies, and the extravagant costumes. However, few truly realise the amount of work and long hours that are invested in every float.

It takes many volunteers, who sacrifice their days and nights in the run-up to carnival, to build a single float.

“Some of us have been on leave since the Christmas holidays,” says Jeremy Mercieca, a member of the Dreamteam Carnival Company, as he shows me the makeshift kitchen in their huge warehouse in the Marsa industrial estate.

“We sleep here during weekends and some of us during the week as well. We’ve been having our evening meal here for the past days.”

The young primary schoolteacher himself corrects his students’ homework after work and then leaves for the warehouse where he stays until the early morning hours.

The Dreamteam Carnival Company’s float is inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Nemo. Photo:  Matthew Mirabelli

Members putting finishing touches to the float. Photo:  Matthew Mirabelli

Dreamteam is a relatively new company: it was set up only three years ago. This carries both advantages and disadvantages, according to Mercieca.

“We’re mostly youths with fresh ideas and most of us are related. We don’t have that much experience but we do our best to compete with the bigger and more established companies,” he says.

This will to succeed has led them to win the Category C carnival competition in their first year of participation with a Tom and Jerry-themed float. And last year, their Smurf-themed float was the first one ever to have a mechanised structure (Gargamel) that could move its hands from two places and rotate its head and body at the same time.

Photo:  Matthew Mirabelli

This year’s float is inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Finding Nemo, with cartoon characters Dori and Nemo, starfish, a shark, a treasure chest, seahorses and a big statue of Neptune, the classical god of the sea, adorning the huge structure.

Putting the float together is a laborious task. Mercieca explains that preparations begin as early as April, when members start designing sketches of the float. In August, the real hard work begins. A complex metal structure is built on a trailer and mechanisms and gears start to be put into place. At the same time, structures are formed in clay and wood. These are then cast in papier mache. Other structures are made with left-over aluminium. When these bits and pieces are all stuck on to the trailer, it’s time to paint the float. Light systems and thousands of LEDs are finally added, and in the meantime, the accompanying carnival dance and the dancers’ costumes are prepared.

They aim to draw plenty of smiles and giggles with their caricatures of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Simon Busuttil hanging from their Popeye-themed float

All this is done by a team of 15 people, all of whom bring in their skills and make maximum use of their talent.

“There are artists, welders, electricians and painters. Our families also join in to give us a helping hand.”

Contrary to Dreamteam, Ċiċċo Carnival Company, led by Norman Hill, aka iċ-Ċiċċo, is a well-established company. Hill’s uncle, Paul Curmi, popularly known as il-Pampalun, imparted his love of carnival to him from a young age and he started to learn ‘the trade’ at his warehouse. Hill eventually founded his own company in 1983 and since then has won numerous awards, which he keeps proudly in his warehouse at Valletta waterfront.

The Landa Carnival Crew’s float. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

“Carnival to me is the cleanest form of entertainment,” he says. “People want to simply have fun.”

His company is not competing this year but is participating in the satire category. They aim to draw plenty of smiles and giggles with their caricatures of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Simon Busuttil hanging from their Popeye-themed float.

There is also a caricature of MEP Claudette Buttigieg as a mermaid and a particular reference to Żaren tal-Ajkla. One should also be on the lookout for details such as the representation of the Labour Party’s and the Opposition’s headquarters, or the sun symbolising Alternattiva Demokratika.

“Everyone brings his skills to the drawing table, however, iċ-Ċiċċo is an all-rounder. He does everything there needs to be done,” explains Holger Camilleri, a younger member of the company.

“Things have, however, changed over the years. Whereas before it was the leader who took every decision and others followed his orders, now everyone takes part in the decision-making process throughout the construction of the float. We pool in ideas for everything – from the biggest issue to the minutest detail.”

One of the Ċiċċo Carnival Company’s floats. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

Although the members work for free, constructing the float needs a significant budget. Both companies depend on sponsors or fund-raising activities and sometimes even fork out their own money.

Mercieca says that the worst part of it all for him is dismantling the float once carnival is over, while Hill says that the most heart-breaking moment for him is seeing the float exit the warehouse.

“It’s like your children are leaving the nest to get married,” he says, as his eyes redden.

However, both share the same wish: to be blessed with fair weather during the carnival days.

And who can blame them?