Carnival January/February: Pre-Lent fest

Story and photos by Vivienne Mackie

Carnival time includes the period between Epiphany (January 6) and Shrove Tuesday, the day before the 40-day period of Lent begins. These weeks before Lent are a last chance for feasting and fun, as Lent is a time of self-denial and fasting for Christians. The Carnival season is famous throughout the Christian world for processions, feasting and masquerades -- activities the early Pagans also indulged in as part of their spring festivities.

In New Orleans and France it is called Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"); in Germany it is Karneval, Fasching or Fastnacht; and in Brazil, Carnaval. But, whatever you call it and wherever you celebrate it, this celebration is dedicated to merrymaking and fun, with festivities lasting anywhere from a day to several weeks. It is a time to remove inhibitions and let go of passions. Parades, dancing, music and much revelry mark the celebration of Carnival. Costumes and masks are the order of the day, and people enjoy (and indulge in) many of the activities forbidden during Lent.

Both carnival and Mardi Gras come from the Christian meaning of the holiday. Carnival is derived from carnelevamen, a Latin word meaning "taking away of the meat, " which is what happens when Lent is obeyed with strict fasts. Gradually it came to mean the days before Lent. "Fat Tuesday" got its name because all butter and fats had to be used up by Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Mardi Gras is celebrated in France and other places in the world with French influence. It came to America when French explorers landed near the mouth of the Mississippi River on March 3, 1699, which happened to also be French Mardi Gras that calendar year. Although not generally a legal holiday, it is widely celebrated as a day of drinking, feasting and partying, for it marks the last time for six weeks that Catholics can enjoy alcohol and feasting. However, in Alabama, Florida and Louisiana, Mardi Gras is quite legal -- in fact, festivalgoers might assume from the amount of revelry that attendance at the festivities is mandatory.

In France, it is traditional to eat a large meal, which might include crepes or waffles. There are parades of flower-covered floats and giant cardboard figures. At the end of the day, a grotesque effigy representing evil is burned. Nice has a big carnival February 1-12 this year, which will end with a fireworks display and the burning of "King Carnival" on his pyre.

In Spain and Italy, flowers are also used to decorate floats and costumes, and "wars" of flower-throwing are held. In 2002, Milan's Carnival week falls between February 10-16. Shows and festive events for children are on Tuesday and Thursday, and parades will feature costumed figures of the local folk characters Meneghin and Cecca.

 

"Let's Go to the Mardi Gras!"

"It's marvelous, magical, mirthful, magnificent. It's Mardi Gras -- the most fabulous party on Earth.." So says Suzanne Coil of the New Orleans celebrations in her book Mardi Gras. The most famous carnival celebration in the States lasts for weeks, although the climax will occur on February 12. The first street parade was in 1838, and it's been getting bigger and better ever since. Special societies, called krewes, organize elaborate costume balls, build magnificent floats with an elected King (the most famous to date being Louis Armstrong) and Queen, have marching bands and parade in innovative costumes. There are more than 100 krewes today, with names like Comus, Twelfth Night Revelers, Rex, Momus, Proteus and Zulu, the oldest African-American krewe. There are around 70 fantastic parades on different days in and around the city, some with as many as 5,000 participants. Everyone can participate, and school children as well as adults build floats. Anyone can dress up as dragons, fairies or monsters, and not stand out in the crowd. Each year the parade chooses a different theme, such as "fairy tales," to unify the design of the floats. In New Orleans, all inhibitions are thrown aside as costumed celebrants parade, drink and party long into the night.

My daughter and some friends went one year, and these are her comments: "It's totally wild. People who go there then have one idea in their minds, and that's to have a good time, to go overboard with the partying. People do stuff they wouldn't normally think of. Somehow the attitude is different and 'anything goes.'" She remembers all kinds of weird costumes, drunken people stumbling around, a crush of bodies and having to be very careful not to fall, otherwise you're likely to get stomped on. But, she also says that the atmosphere is electrifying and invigorating, and going to Mardi Gras should be something all young people do at least once. On the other hand, our family friend Gary from Hammond -- near New Orleans -- has young kids and comments, "We love Mardi Gras. It's such a part of our tradition. We go every year, but not into New Orleans, because all the other places around the city also have parades. I'd rather take the kids to those ones, where we feel much safer, and they can collect all the cups and beads they want." Gary and his family have so many now that a couple of rooms in their house are decorated almost entirely with festoons of these brightly colored, sparkly green, gold and purple beads of all shapes and sizes.

Part of the tradition is that the costumed people on the floats throw out thousands of beads, most in the Mardi Gras colors of gold, green and purple, and an amazing assortment of trinkets, ranging from toothbrushes and collectors cards to doubloons and stuffed animals. Perhaps the most prized is a decorated coconut from the Zulu krewe. All the trinkets are paid for by the krewe members, which they willingly do "just because it's Mardi Gras."

Traditional foods include the King Cake, in which a charm, often a small plastic baby doll, is hidden. The person who gets the piece of cake with the charm is named the "king" of the carnival and is responsible for making or buying the King Cake the following year. Gary also loves this tradition and sends us an elaborate King Cake every year -- very sugary and covered in green, purple and gold sprinkles.

Music plays a prominent role in Carnival. Jazz sounds. Rhythm and blues favorites such as "Go to the Mardi Gras." But the most famous carnival song is the Mardi Gras anthem, which has been the sound of the festival since 1872. It goes like this: "If ever I cease to love/ If ever I cease to love/May the fish get legs and the cows lay eggs/If ever I cease to love!"

 

What About Pancakes?

In other European countries, celebrations are varied and intriguing. One of the more unusual is the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England. Pancake-making became a Shrove Tuesday tradition to use up the dairy products forbidden in Lent. Legend tells that this race began in 1445, when a local woman was so late for church she forgot to put down her frying pan and ran all the way to church carrying her pancake.

Today, races are run in other English towns, and in the USA, the women of Liberal, Kansas, run in competition with the women of Olney. The costumed Ringer of the Pancake Bell starts the race, in which the women runners wear traditional apron and kerchief. They must toss their pancake three times while running the S-shaped 415-yard course, and the winner gets a kiss from the Bell Ringer. In Liberal, the holiday is known as International Pancake Day, and there are other events besides the race. This year, February 10-16 is America's National Pancake Week, which was started by General Mills to recognize the history and continuing popularity of pancakes.

In 2002, Fasching in Germany and Austria falls on February 11-12, with processions of masked figures, both beautiful and grotesque. In some Austrian villages, costumed children parade on skis, and in some German towns costumed "witches" parade, carrying brooms which they use to sweep the streets, symbolizing the ancient tradition of chasing away evil spirits by spring cleaning. Basle has a famous carnival in Switzerland. A costumed parade has some very unusual masquerades, such as a double mask, which is a facemask with a second masked head mounted on top. The upper masks often satirize local politicians or events.

 

Places And Dates

Carnival De Ponce, Puerto Rico: February 6-12 (www.ponceweb.org)
Mardi Gras Pensacola, Florida: February 8-12
French West Indies Carnival, Martinique: February 9-13 (www.martinique.org)
Carnival, Trinidad: February 11-12, Port of Spain Tourism, 809-623-1932
Snowmass Mardi Gras, Snowmass, Colorado: February 12 (www.snowmassvillage.com)

For more information, visit www.mardigras.com and www.pancakeday.com.