Carnival
- See also Carnival Cruise Lines.
A carnival parade is a public celebration, combining some elements of a circus and public street party, generally during the Carnival Season.
The Carnival Season is a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fast of Lent. The name comes from the Italian carne- or carnovale, from Latin carnem (meat) + levare (lighten or raise), literally "to remove the meat" or "stop eating meat". Most commonly the season began on Septuagesima Sunday, the third from the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, but in some places it started as early as Twelveth night, continuing until Lent. This period of celebration and partying had its origin in the need to use up all remaining meat and animal products such as eggs and butter before the fasting season. The celebration of Carnival ends on "Mardi Gras" (French for "Greasy Tuesday", meaning Shrove Tuesday), the day before Ash Wednesday, when the rigours of Lent's 40 days of fasting and sacrifice begin. It sometimes lasts until Piñata Weekend, the first Saturday and Sunday of Lent.
Origins of the Carnival season
It is sometimes said that this festival came from Saturnalia, Saturn's festival, and Lupercalia[1]. In the later Roman period, these festivals were characterized by wanton raillery and unbridled freedom, and were in a manner a temporary subversion of civil order. Historians think that this spirit was transmitted to the Carnival.
In ancient times, carnival was held to begin on 6th January and lasted until midnight of Shrove Tuesday. Some believe that this period of licence represents the kind of compromise the church tended to make with pagan festivals and that carnival really represents the Roman Saturnalia. Rome has always been the headquarters of carnival, and though some popes, notably Clement IX and XI and Benedict XIII, made efforts to stem the tide of Bacchanalian revelry, many of the popes were great patrons and promoters of carnival-keeping.
Special celebrations around the world
Places especially noted for elaborate Carnival celebrations include Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife, and Olinda in Brazil, Barranquilla and Pasto in Colombia, Port-of-Spain in Trinidad, Santiago in Cuba, Venice in Italy, Nice in France, New Orleans (See New Orleans Mardi Gras) and Mobile, Alabama in the USA, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Cádiz in Spain. Carnival is also celebrated in the southern Catholic provinces of the Netherlands Noord-Brabant and Limburg as well as in neighbouring Belgium. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, is a well-known pride parade.
England
In England Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day, but apart from the serving of pancakes and occasional pancake races and football matches, little else of Carnival survived the Reformation. Caribbean influence has led to the establishment of several "West Indian" carnivals, but these are not held in Carnival season. The leading festivities are Notting Hill Carnival in August (reputedly the world's largest), and Bridgwater in November.
Germany
In Germany, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Mainz, Bonn and Munich are famous for their Karneval celebrations -- parades and costumed balls which, particularly in southern Germany, are called Fasching. German Carnival parades are held on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the day before Shrove Tuesday, but the carnival season officially begins on November 11th (11/11) at 11 a.m. and finishes on Ash Wednesday.
The Rhineland is the most famous Carnival region; the festival developed especially strongly there as it was a way to express subversive anti-Prussian and anti-French thoughts in times of occupation, through parody. Modern carnival there began in 1823 with the founding of a Carnival Club in Cologne.
The "Swabian-Alemannic" carnival only begins on January 6 (Epiphany/Three Kings Day). This celebration is known as Fastnacht (literally "Fasting Eve" as it originally only referred to the eve of the fasting season). Variants are Fasnet, Fasnacht or Fasent. Fastnacht is held in Baden-Württemberg, parts of Bavaria, and Alsace. Switzerland and Vorarlberg, in Austria, also hold this celebration. The festival starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, known in these regions as Schmutziger Donnerstag. In High German, schmutzig means "dirty", but actually the name is from the local dialect where schmutzig means "fat"; "Greasy Thursday". Elsewhere the day is called "Women's Carnival" (Weiberfastnacht), being the day when tradition says that women take control.
Honduras
In La Ceiba in Honduras carnival is held on the third Saturday of every May to commemorate San Isidro, and is the largest in Central America.
Italy
The carnival in Venice was first recorded in 1268. The subversive nature of the festival is reflected in the many laws created over the centuries in Italy attempting to restrict celebrations and often banning the wearing of masks.
Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival; traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, December 26) at the start of the carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday. As masks were also allowed during Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise. Maskmakers (mascareri) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild.
In 1797 Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Austrians took control of the city on January 18, 1798 and it fell into a decline which also effectively brought carnival celebrations to a halt for many years. It was not until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1970s that a revival of old traditions began.
Poland
In Poland the traditional way of celebrating the Carnival is kulig, a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the snow-covered countryside. The Polish Carnival Season includes Tlusty Czwartek (Greasy Thursday) - a day for eating pączki - and Śledziówka (Shrove Tuesday), or Herring Day (herring is a traditional Polish appetizer for drinking vodka).
Spain
When Lent ends, the Saturday following Holy Week is celebrated in a festival in Murcia, Spain. Called the Sardine's Funeral Parade it marks the end of the period when it is mandatory to eat fish and vegetables only.
Fun fairs
A temporary (often annual) amusement park with mobile rides etc. is called a fun fair (also written funfair) or carnival.
See also Circus (performing art).