Street Dancers Open Rio's Crazy Carnival Associated Press To the sound of blasting samba, men dressed as nuns swilled beer and danced down the cobblestoned streets of a Rio hillside Friday night to kick off five days of uninhibited carnival madness. Dutch tourist Drey Urhahn watched in awe from a sidewalk in the historic Santa Teresa neighborhood as hundreds of members of the Carmelitas street samba group danced by him in flip-flops and black-and-white habits to thundering rhythms from a drum corps backed by a booming brass band.
A German Mardi Gras Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Karneval is the German version of Mardi Gras, a final bash before the beginning of Lent.
Unmasking the First Mardi Gras Chicago Tribune The first Mardi Gras in the United States had no floats, no beads, no go-cups and no king cakes. But where did it occur? On a soggy riverbank downriver from where New Orleans would rise, or in the new settlement called Mobile in south Alabama?
For Six Days, Revelry Rules in Prague Prague Post “No one can really tell who you are under the mask. You can afford to do things, of course within the bounds of propriety, you would not normally do.”So says Kateřina Matásková, Bohemian Carnevale’s director of communications and marketing, and she’s absolutely right. Carnevale is the time to lose all your inhibitions, and with a theme of “Be whatever you want to be,” Prague’s six-day observance of the pre-Lenten holiday this year offers the perfect opportunity.
February 05, 2008
New Orleans has what is arguably the most famous Fat Tuesday (or, in the native French, "Mardi Gras") celebration in the world. The citizens of Rio and Venice would probably say that's strictly a U.S. point of view.
Mardi Gras is actually just one day in a season of celebrations and festivals known as Carnival (or Karneval or Carnevale). Historically, Carnival has preceded some sort of spring fasting season. In fact, the word "Carnevale" is derived from the Latin words carne vale, which mean "farewell to the flesh."
Ovid wrote about springtime celebrations that took place as much as 5,000 years ago. Fast forward to 60 B.C., when Julius Caesar met up in France with the Druids. They sacrificed bulls during their spring celebration called Fete du Soleil, or Festival of the Sun. Caesar and the Romans saw the Druids as Pagans, but in another 100 years the Romans would have their own season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking, all of which preceded their Fast of 40 Days.
Whatever the origin, when Christianity was legalized by the Roman Empire in the early fourth century, these festivals became forever linked to Lent, the 40-day fast that Christians observe before Easter. In fact, church leaders decided early on that it would be best to incorporate some of these pagan festivals into the new faith rather than attempt to abolish them.
The Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. noted that two provincial synods should be held each year, "one before the 40 days of Lent." As one Catholic historian noted, "One can safely conclude that by the end of the fourth century [380 A.D., or so], the 40-day period of Easter preparation known as Lent existed." And, along with it, Carnival.
These pre-Lenten celebrations spread from France to most of the Catholic countries of Europe during the Middle Ages (roughly the late 5th century to the 16th century). Sometime during the 1500s, the French added boeuf gras, which literally stood for the last meat eaten before Lent.
Mardi Gras came to North America in 1699 when the French-Canadian explorer Pierre le Monye, Sieur de Iberville was exploring the Mississippi River. He and his men camped on a bend in the river about 60 miles south of present-day New Orleans on March 3. They knew that Mardi Gras was being celebrated back in France so they threw a party and decided to name the spot Pointe du Mardi Gras, which is what it's still called today.
New Orleans first celebrated Mardi Gras in 1743 when Governor Marquis de Vaudreuil hosted the first Carnival Ball. But I'm getting hemmed in by my U.S. bias again. So how does the rest of the world celebrate Mardi Gras?
In the U.K., Ireland and Australia, today is known as "Pancake Day." Their sweet treat before beginning their Lenten fast is pancakes, served piping hot with confectioner's sugar or maybe a dash of lemon juice or maple syrup.
In Newfoundland, the sweets are inside the pancakes. Trinkets - all of which mean something - are baked into the pancakes. If you find coins, it means you'll be rich. Rings mean you're going to get married. A thimble tells you you're destined to be a tailor or seamstress.
If you're sensing a familiar theme here, you're right. A lot of different cultures celebrate Mardi Gras - or whatever they call it - with sweets. Usually pastries.
In Estonia, the holiday is called Vastlapäev and marks the end of winter. The traditional food is vastlakukkel, a whipped cream-filled pastry that's only available this time of year. Go to Tallinn or the smallest village and you'll see Estonians lined up outside the bakeries, which sell out of these treats within a few hours.
In Lithuania, today is called Užgavėnės, which means "the time before Lent." It begins on the night before Ash Wednesday, when an effigy of winter (usually named Morė) is burnt. Devils, witches, goats, the grim reaper and other characters appear in costume during the celebrations. Lithuanians dance and eat pancakes (blynai) - a symbol of the returning sun - with a variety of sweet toppings, as well as donuts called spurgos.
In Sweden, today is called, fettisdagen, which also literally means "Fat Tuesday." Swedes gorge themselves on semla or fastlagsbulle, sweet buns filled with almond paste and whipped cream.
In Poland, they don't celebrate "Fat Tuesday," but "Fat Thursday." They eat paczi, fist-sized donuts filled with marmalade. In the Polish neighborhoods in Detroit, they celebrate Fat Tuesday (mainly due to the influence of the French fur trappers who originally settled there). The American Poles call it Paczki Day (pronounced Pooshkey Day), just like in the old country, and eat big fat jelly donuts.
In Hawaii, it's Malasada Day. The holiday started in the 19th century with the Portuguese immigrants, many of whom were Catholic, who worked on the sugar plantations. They'd make Malasad, or Portuguese donuts, to use up their butter and sugar before Lent.
In Pennsylvania Dutch country, the donuts are called "Fastnachts." They're typically made from potato dough, fried, and coated with a sugary glaze.
Frankly, a lot of these sweets served around the world on Fat Tuesday sound a lot like the beignets you'd get in New Orleans. That'd be strictly a U.S.-centric point of view. And the U.S. certainly doesn't have a monopoly on "Fat Tuesday."
Carnival Beyond Rio MSNBC The hedonistic bacchanalia of Carnival lets loose across the globe every spring, yet most people tend to think only of the plastic beads and floats at New Orleans’ Mardi Gras or samba and elaborately costumed (or barely covered) dancers at Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval. And for good reason: Fat Tuesday in the Big Easy and Rio’s signature blowout are two of the planet’s biggest and best parties. There is, however, more to this age-old party—and ways to celebrate it.
The Foods of Carnevale Gothamist.com You’d eat anything and everything. You’d have your prosciutto, your porchetta. Because once Lent starts you’d be fasting. You’d really want to party it up with those specialty foods.
Carnevale di Lost Abbey Beeradvocate For centuries Venetians have celebrated mid-winter and the beginning of Lent with a temporary upending of the social order. Denizens of the canal-lined city disguise themselves as paupers, princes, ladies, lovers and fools, and gather in the Piazza di San Marco to dine, drink and dance at the Carnevale di Venezia. Shortly revelers will soon be gathering in another San Marcos half a world away to carry on the Carenvale tradition with a New World twist.
Where's your favorite place to celebrate Fat Tuesday?
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In Mississippi where it's Fat Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - it looks like they may take the first swipe at wiping out Fat all together.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22997073/wid/11915773?gt1=10914
Leave it to one of the most obese states to criminalize jelly donuts!
mollykimbrell said...
We have Tobacco Tuesday in KY
great article, I knew of Brazilian Carnival as a precursor to our beloved mardi gras, but no idea that the druids were somehow complicit in my not being able to speak in complete sentences one wednesday morning a year. ok...so, it's a few saturdays, sundays, and other days that end in y. Damn those Druids.