Carnival Crikvenica

Crikvenica has a long carnival tradition. The State Archive has a record of an organised carnival event in Crikvenica as early as 1895. At the beginning, the masks were not beautiful: it was only important to be unrecognisable, using various household items. The first masked balls took place in the local cultural centre and in the Esplanade and Miramare hotels. The Hotel International, which was built in the 1960s, had long been known as the best venue for costume parties. After the International closed its doors to parties, events were held in other venues. On Ash Wednesday, people traditionally gather in the centre of the town to read out "The Sentence" (a text criticising the state of society and making fun of certain events) and pass judgement on the Merik (a figure that gets held responsible for everything that went wrong in the previous year), set it on fire and throw it into the sea. During Carnival, Crikvenica hosts parades for young and old, and various carnival groups from the town regularly participate in the internationally acclaimed Rijeka Carnival.