Carnival

 CARNIVAL

What is Carnival?

Carnival is a public celebration before the Christian Lent, with variable date (from late January to early March) depending on the year and lasts several days. Despite the great differences that its celebration presents in the world, the common characteristic is to be a period of permissiveness and a lack of control, where people from all walks of life come together and participate with colorful costumes, parades, floats and parties in the streets full of music and dance. According to legend, during the night of carnival anything can happen and that's why people usually wear masks.

What is the origin of Carnival?

The origin of the celebration seems likely in pagan festivals, such as those performed in honor of: Bacchus, the god of wine; or Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture; or Dionysian Greek and Roman celebrations; or the bull Apis in Egypt; or Prehispanic Andean festivals and African American cultures.

In the early Middle Ages the Catholic Church proposed a derivation of carnival: from vulgar Latin the carne-levare, meaning 'to leave the flesh' (mandatory requirement for all people every Friday during Lent). This custom spread throughout Europe, being carried to America by the Spanish and Portuguese navigators in the XVth century.

Then came another etymology which is currently handled at the popular area: the Italian word “carnevale”, which meant the time during which you could eat.

In the late XXth century several authors began to suspect the pagan origin of the name: Carna is the Celtic goddess of the beans and bacon and Indo-European festivals dedicated to the god Karna, son of Sun god and Queen Kunti.
 

Currently, the carnival is a festival of playful character.

Where is the carnival celebrated?

Nowadays, the most famous and international Carnivals all over the world are:

- Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (according to the Guinness Book of Records, the biggest carnival in the world)
- Venice in Italy

- Tenerife and Cadiz in Spain
- Caribbean in Trinidad and Tobago
- Mardi Gras, New Orleans inUSA.

Enjoy these costumes from Venice Carnival!

 Source: Wikipedia - Youtube