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Carnival History Around The World

The Carnival is a part of Greek culture. It is believed that the carnival tradition was followed by Greek people to honor Dionysus, the famous god of wine. There was carnival like atmosphere during the ancient Greek Dionysus spring festival. The ancient carnival celebrations were very luxurious. Those people were having fun with music, alcohol, food, and companionship. They celebrated awakening of the God Dionysus after the winter time. The word “Carnival” is derived from the Latin word “Carne Vale”, which means “Farewell to Flesh”. There was a Carnival held in Italy, which were wild costume festivals, held every year by certain catholic religious people. This festival was held before the first day of lent.

The Africans also had a carnival tradition where youths in the African villages used to roam around in the streets of the village wearing costumes and masks. They used to go around the village in circles, as they believed it would bring them good luck.

Carnival History

Carnival History

This kind of carnival was also held to heal problems and calm down angry relatives who were dead. The carnival masks used during the carnival was made from items such as beads, shells, bones, grasses, and fabric. The Africans put feather in their
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World Wide Carnival Culture

Many of us will visit carnivals and participate in the festivities that ensue, but how many of us know about carnival culture and origin of carnival?

The roots of carnival culture can be found in Roman Catholicism. The Romans would hold carnivals prior to Lent in order to use up the food that would go unused during the Lenten period. In some countries, such as Cyprus, the carnival culture still revolves very heavily around this premise.

The earliest example of such an event is that of the Italian Carnival of Venice. This particular carnival has its roots in the Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Bacchanalia. Saturnalia, which took place on the seventeenth day of December each year, was a festival dedicated to the Roman god Saturn, god of agriculture and strength. Bacchanalia, held on the sixteenth and seventeenth days of March, was held in the grove of Simila, near Aventine Hill, and was held to commemorate and honour Bacchus, the Roman god of wine.

Carnival

Carnival

From Italy, carnival celebration spread quickly throughout Catholic Europe; first into Spain, Portugal and France before its influence reached the German Rhineland and traveled overseas to Latin America with the mass migration of Spanish and Portuguese in the fifteenth century. From here, carnival culture spread into the Caribbean regions. Interestingly, the United Kingdom’s popular carnival culture has
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