3 popular carnivals celebrated around the world
What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘carnival?’ Music, dance, drama, food & drinks, and of course people in their best possible mood and attire, celebrating with friends and families. Isn’t that, right? But guess what, when we traced back the origin of carnival, we found out that it refers to the numerous kinds of festivities that happen primarily in Catholic cities around the world ahead of the Lenten season.
Wait, what’s this Lenten season? Well, Lenten season, popularly known as Lent is usually a 40-day period (beginning with Ash Wednesday) preceding Good Friday (day of Christ’s death) and Easter (day of Christ’s resurrection) and traditionally involves abstention from eating meat as a reminder of Jesus’s sacrifices for the sake of humanity.
Now that we have understood what Lent is, let’s move on to the etymology of carnival. Well, the word carnival has been derived from French ‘carnaval’ which was in turn taken from Latin ‘carne levare’ meaning ‘to remove meat.’ No wonder, Catholics finish all meat on the day before Lent, usually the Monday and Tuesday right before Ash Wednesday. Oh, and before we forget, carnival had originated largely in Catholic Southern Europe and had spread to the Americas during colonisation, now known to celebrate local history and culture.
Thus, as we can understand, carnival is both about honouring Jesus as well as engaging in revelries. However, carnival in different places have their own set of traditions and customs. Here are some of the world’s most popular carnival celebrations.
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
Perhaps the biggest carnival in the world (often regarded as “the biggest show on earth”), the carnival at Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro is based on the samba school, that is a social club named after the famous samba dance native to Brazil. In fact, there are several samba schools spread across the city that share intense rivalries. As per sources, they prepare for the carnival all throughout the year. During the time of the carnival, a five-day celebration (from Friday preceding Ash Wednesday) is held during which all the schools compete against each other in a venue called Sambodromo, which has a capacity of 80000 spectators. And when people are not viewing the contests, they take part in all kinds of street festivals (parties, parades, masquerades, balls open-air cultural performances) that spread as far as the city’s famous beaches, Ipanema and Copacabana. The carnival in Rio that had originated somewhere around 1850s in the hands of the Portuguese, now has two million visitors from across the globe.
Louisiana in USA
The city of New Orleans in Louisiana is known to hold the most popular carnival in America, better known as Mardi Gras (French for ‘Fat Tuesday’ or the day prior to Ash Wednesday). This cultural event that arrived with the French Catholics around late 17th century is spread over a period of six weeks (from the last night of Christmas to Ash Wednesday). One of its main highlights is the street-based parades organised by dozens of social clubs called ‘krewes.’ The central part of the city is known as French Quarter where the parties are largely held. The carnival is also alternatively called Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. Some of the important traditions of Mardi Gras in New Orleans include, horseback riding and boating. Apart from New Orleans, there are certain other parts of the USA that too celebrate carnivals, such as Mobile in Alabama, Biloxi in Mississippi, Pensacola in Florida and Galveston in Texas.
Trinidad & Tobago
Trinidad & Tobago may be two tiny islands on the Caribbean Sea, but they are best known for organising one of the most spectacular carnivals in the world. Influenced deeply by African cultures, the islanders prepare for it throughout the year. However, unlike in the USA and Brazil, they prefer to host the festival on the Monday and Tuesday (two days) preceding Ash Wednesday. The highlights of the carnival are their native calypso music, steelpan drums, tribal dances, masquerades, stick-fighting, limbo competitions (Trinidadian game where forwards need to be passed under a low bar, without dislodging it) and street parades. The common part to all these is of course their colourful costumes (locally called ‘mas’) and exhilarating celebrations.