everyone to attend. Rues of masked revelers dance alongside. On Thursday, Dijous Gras (Fat Thursday) is celebrated, also called 'omelette day' (el dia de la truita), on which coques (), and omelettes are eaten. The festivities end on Ash Wednesday with elaborate funeral rituals marking the death of King Carnival, who is typically burned on a pyre in what is called the "burial of the sardine" (enterrament de la sardina), or, in Vilanova, as l'enterro. The Carnival of Vilanova i la Geltrú has a documented history from 1790 and is one of the richest in the variety of its acts and rituals. It adopts an ancient style in which satire, the grotesque body (particularly cross-dressing and displays of exaggerated bellies, noses, and phalli) and above all, active participation are valued over glamorous, media-friendly spectacles that Vilanovins mock as "thighs and feathers". It is best known for Les Comparses (held on Sunday), a tumultuous dance in which thousands of dancers in traditional dresses and Mantons de Manila (Manila shawls), organized into groups of couples march in the street forming lines while throwing tons of hard candies at one another. Vilanovinians organize several rituals during the week. On Dijous Gras, Vilanovin children are excused from school to participate in the Merengada, a day-long scene of eating and fighting with sticky, sweet meringue while adults have a meringue battle at midnight at the historic Plaça de les Cols. On Friday citizens are called to a parade for the arrival of King Carnival called l'Arrivo that changes every year. It includes a raucous procession of floats and dancers lampooning current events or public figures and a bitingly satiric sermon (el sermo) delivered by the King himself. On Saturday, the King's procession and his concubines scandalize the town with their sexual behavior, the mysterious Moixo Foguer (Little-Bird-Bonfire) is shown accompanied by the Xerraire (jabberer) who try to convince the crowd about the wonders of this mighty bird he carries in a box (who is in fact a naked person covered in feathers). and other items such as sport acts and barbecues in the streets, the talking-dance of the Mismatched Couples (Ball de Malcasats), the children's King Caramel whose massive belly, long nose and sausage-like hair hint at his insatiable appetites, or the debauched Nit dels Mascarots dance. After Sunday, vilanovinians continue its Carnival with the children's partyVidalet, the satirical chorus of Carnestoltes songs and the