A carnival is a big elaborate party. Carnivals are a
cross between a block party, a circus, and a parade. People spend all year making floats, rehearsing
music, making props and beautiful costumes to march around the streets and perform
what they worked so hard on for the town. Carnivals began because the people
needed a way to have fun and release some tension from their everyday lives. The
first and most recognized carnival celebration was Saturnalia which came from
the Roman’s to celebrate winter solace.
There idea of celebration was eventually taken over by the Christians
and they adapted carnivals into their religious celebrations before lent. Carnival means “farewell to meat”; the Christians
gave up meat for lent. Carnivals have been adapted in all parts of the world
and every culture has added a piece to the puzzle. Large influences in
carnivals today come from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and many more.
If
you went to a carnival, you would be a spectator standing on the sidelines of
the street or sitting in the bleachers waiting for the performances to start. The
performances would include many people singing and dancing. Each group of
performers would be dressed in elaborate costumes and they most times will have
a big float following behind them while they sing, act, and dance. Some people
will be performing on the floats as well.
This is a perfect image for describing the elaborate
costume designs and the marching they do. As you can see they are all similarly
dressed for the performance and are walking down the street with their group,
the float is probably behind them.
This is a picture of the parade you can see the extraordinary
lion float and all the people on and surrounding it. The spectators are hanging
out of the nearby buildings to get a good view.
This video shows Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin,
Germany 2010. I picked this video because it doesn’t show the traditional
carnival performance you would expect. It shows these people in the crazy
costumes walking on stilts they aren’t singing or dancing but, they are
performing while walking down the streets with their group. It shows that you don’t
have to be singing and dancing to be in a carnival, there are other elements to
the tradition.
Facts:
The African tradition of circling was meant to bring
good luck to the village.
African’s used feathers in their costumes to
represent humans rising above their problems and pains.
Sources
Felner, Mira, and Claudia Orenstein. "Carnival
Tradition." The World of Theatre: Tradition and Innovation. Boston:
Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2006.
"History of Carnival." The History of Carnival. Www.allahwe.org. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://www.carnivalpower.com/history_of_carnival.htm>.
"Carnival." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival>.
