Maltese carnival is hundreds of years old. Long ago, ordinary people used it as a chance to dress up as nobles, kings or strange creatures for a few days - just for the fun of pretending to be somebody else. That tradition has carried on. Costumes today range from princesses and pirates to giant cartoon characters and silly puns.
Each town builds 'floats' - giant moving sculptures on a trailer, decorated with bright paper, fabric, lights and papier-m芒ch茅 figures. People work on them for months in a workshop. Then on the day, the float rolls slowly down the main street with the makers walking alongside in matching costumes.
Dance troupes - sometimes 50 children dressed in matching colours - perform routines on the square in front of judges. There are prizes for the best costume, the best float, the best dance. Whole families take part: small children, grown-ups and grandparents in matching outfits.
Carnival in Nadur, on Gozo, is famously a bit weirder. People wear strange masks and silly homemade costumes - sometimes scary, sometimes funny - and wander around the village square in groups. Nobody knows who anyone is, and that is the whole point.