CARNIVAL

Semel in anno licet insanire: madness is permissible once a year.

Hi, everybody

so runs a popular saying that makes clear what Carnival is about : desire for a change, longing for escape, giving in to pasions, enjoying oneself.

Now some basic facts about Carnival:

Do you know that Carnival has its origins in pre-christian pagan rites, particulary fertility rites ?They were connected with the coming of spring and the rebirth of nature.

Do you know that the first example of an annual spring festival is the festival of Osiris in Egypt?

Do you know that the use of floats goes back to the celebrations in honour of the god Dionysus?

And do you know that the word Carnival is believed to derive from the latin words: “carne” and “vale” meaning “goodbye to meat”. The word reflects the practice of abstaining from meat during the Lenten season.

SOME CARNIVALS AROUND THE WORLD

Notting Hill Carnival

The first Carnival took place in 1964. For over a decade immigrants from Trinidad had been meeting in pubs in West London to enjoy the sounds of jazz and calypso; this inspired a small street party in the Notting Hill Gate district. The Carnival started growing year by year; by the 1980s it had become the largest street festival in Europe and the second largest in the world. Over 3 days at the end of August, about a million of visitors enjoy the processions, costumes and partying that make the Notting Hill carnival a multicultural but truly British experience.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival

The Rio carnival was started in 1723 by immigrants from Portugal. The traditional Portuguese carnival involved people throwing household items at each other to signify getting rid the old to make way for the new. In Rio, the people who were throwing began to wear masks and fancy clothes to hide their identities. By 1800s the tradition of dressing up had become established.Then the samba was  added and today there are thousands of dancers who take part in the Carnival’s samba competition.

New Orleans Mardi Gras

The New Orleans Carnival is also known as Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday” in France). Mardi Gras is actually the final day of the Carnival , the day when everyone ate as much as possible before they began to fast. The birth of the modern day, however, was in 1857. Mardi Gras has got an official flag: Green for faith Gold for power Purple for justice It also has got an anthem; these are the lyrics of the song: “If ever I cease to love, May cows lay eggs and fish grow legs. If ever I cease to love”

CARNIVAL IN THE MARCHE REGION THE FANO CARNIVAL

Beautiful to see, sweet to try : that's the slogan of the Carnival of Fano. The Carnival is believed to be the most ancient in Italy. It started in medieval times, in 1347, on the occasion of the reconciliation between two families of the time, the Del Cassero and the Dà Carignano. The carnival is also one of the “sweetest” since every year, a lot of chocolates are thrown from the parade floats. It is a battle fought with sweets and old and young spectators take part in it trowing sweets at each other. Another feature of the carnival is the mask called “el Vulon”, a caricature representing one of the best-known persons in the town; people may not be aware but it also symbolizes the ancient rite of the scapegoat. El Vulon is the sacred animal that takes upon itself all people's sins, all the blame and the outcome is always the same: its execution, an act of purification for the whole community. The festivity ends with the float parade at the sound of “Musica Arabita band” (“musica arabita” means “angry music”), a band that originated in 1923 and that use household objects like tins, coffee pots as instruments.

CARNIVAL IN THE PROVINCE OF MACERATA

One more saying: “Carnevale bon compagno possi venì tre vorde l'anno” Carnival good companion may you come three times a year. This is a popular saying that makes clear how much people wanted a change in their difficult daily routine. It was the longing for escape for a moment of carefree enjoyment. Apart from the dancing and festivities, Carnival was characterized by the special sweets such as scroccafusi, sfrappe, cicerchiata ( yum- yum!).

Another tradition which is now disappeared but mentioned by some authorities on folklore is that known as “ji a lardellu “meaning “going in search of bacon fat”. Poor women used this time to mask the humilation of begging.They put sprigs of laurel on their head and with a tambourine and a skewer went outside the farmhouses and then the vergara would give them a piece of bacon or a sausage. In Penna San Giovanni on Fat Thursday and on the day of Carnival groups of people went around to collect eggs and bacon fat for a fry up. The passage from Tuesday to Ash Wednesday was marked by the ringing of the bells in many places. In some villages the crockery were put into boiling water to remove every traces of fat. In Colmurano, the bell rang three times: at 22.30 to tell people to finish their food , at 23.00 for the cleaning of the plates and at midnight to signal the end of the Carnival.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: VILNIUS CARNIVAL. HOW OUR PARTNERS CELEBRATE CARNIVAL

During the exchange visit to Vilnius we took part in and enjoyed their festival “Uzgavenes” meaning “time before Lent” . We also watched a performance set up by the Lithuanian students at school. They were great! The main element of the celebration, whose purpose is to symbolize the defeat of winter, was a battle between Lasininis(“porker”), personifying winter, and Kanapinis (“hempen man”), who personifies spring. At first sight it may seem impossible but Kanapinis always wins the battle, just like spring always replace winter. Devils, witches, goats, gypsies, and other joyful and frightening characters appeared in costume during the celebrations. Making the mask and the costume is an essential element of Uzgavenes. Our partners explained that Lithuanian carnival costumes differ from those in other countries. They can be made from any material the mask-maker wants, from paper to wood.  Usually they are not stunning like the Brazilian ones, and they are no like  the expensive Venetian masks, but we loved them. The participants, the masqueraders and we Italinans as well, danced and ate the traditional dish of the holiday – pancakes( again yum-yum!) with a variety of toppings, since round pancakes are a symbol of the returning sun.

After the performance we went outside to burn an effigy of winter, named More, another significant Uzgavenes tradition. It is made of various materials and it looks like a woman. People danced around the effigy and all together we sang the traditional Uzgavenes slogan: "ziema, ziema bek is kiemo!" literally meaning "winter, winter get out of my yard!”.

The winter didn't get out so soon and the day after it was still freezing cold!!