The origin of the word "carnival" is highly disputed. One theory suggests that “carnival” is derived from the Latin words caro meaning meat and vale meaning depart, possibly describing the necessity of using all perishables before the 40 days of fasting during Lent. Pagans are said to celebrate carnival as a way of warding off evil spirits of the winter and welcoming spring.
I remember the nuns at the St. Ignatius school in Venezuela telling us kids that Carnival meant “A feast of the flesh”. It was a pagan thing full of sacrilegious rites and customs and the whole thing was a degenerate celebration of sin and perdition. Hmmm…I guess those strict ladies at St. Ignatius would say the same thing about the tailgate parties I saw at the Super Bowl last week in Miami. Guys and girls painted in their teams colors, eating and drinking and carousing. It all looked quite pagan to me.
Before working at this translation company, I was a record producer in Brazil, a samba producer to be exact. I participated in dozens of carnival festivities and even produced some carnival music. Here is a typical Brazilian carnival samba:
Sambas de Enredo 98 Rio de Janeiro - Uniao da Ilha.Carnival is a millenary tradition and carnival feasts are held all over the world. We tend to think of Rio de Janeiro or Mardis Gras when someone mentions carnival but did you know that there are incredible carnival feasts in places such as Croatia? Croatia celebrates an all stops are out "karneval". In the Indian state of Goa carnival or intruzis is a carnival in the mold of Mardi Gras or Rio’s famous carnival.
