What is a Carnival?
The word carnival comes to us from the Latin “carne vale”, which means either “farewell to the flesh” or “farewell to meat”, and is most often associated with the pre Lenten Catholic festivals when the pleasures of the world are indulged before meat, wine, women and song were renounced for the 40 days of Christian Lent.
Some believe that carnival celebrations spread through Europe with the ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Bacchanalia, form which the word bacchanal comes. Others believe that the Catholic Church harnessed ancient pagan fertility rights which date back to an earlier time, perhaps even our passage through the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, or to mans journey out of Africa.
Traveling Carnivals in Britain
What ever it’s exact source, the word “carnival” today means many different things, and is celebrated in many different ways. In the United Kingdom, and some parts of Europe and North America, a carnival is a traveling circus (a Latin word associated with exotic animal acts and Roman gladiatorial games), which has a variety of rides, and games. The most noteworthy of those amusement being the carousel, or merry-go-round, on which children ride prancing horses and all manner of strange beasts, to the accompaniment of now traditional calliope music.
The Karnevals of Europe
Today, many other parts of Europe celebrate Carnivals with processions, floats, merry making, masked balls, fireworks and other assorted amusements. Chief among these are the carnivals or karnevals of Belgium, Rijeka in Croatian, Cyprus, the Masopust festival in the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Patras in Greece, Mohace in Hungary,