Carnaval
Carnaval é um período de festas regidas pelo ano lunar no cristianismo da Idade Média. O período do carnaval era marcado pelo "adeus à carne" ou "carne vale" dando origem ao termo "carnaval". Durante o período do carnaval havia uma grande concentração de festejos populares. Cada cidade brincava a seu modo, de acordo com seus costumes. O carnaval moderno, feito de desfiles e fantasias, é produto da sociedade vitoriana do século XIX. A cidade de Paris foi o principal modelo exportador da festa carnavalesca para o mundo. Cidades como Nice, Nova Orleans, Toronto e Rio de Janeiro se inspirariam no carnaval parisiense para implantar suas novas festas carnavalescas. Já o Rio de Janeiro criou e exportou o estilo de fazer carnaval com desfiles de escolas de samba para outras cidades do mundo, como São Paulo, Tóquio e Helsinque, capital da Finlândia.
O carnaval do Rio de Janeiro está no Guinness Book como o maior carnaval do mundo.Em 1995, o Guinness Book declarou o Galo da Madrugada como o maior bloco de carnaval do mundo.
História e origem
A festa carnavalesca surgiu a partir da implantação, no século XI, da Semana Santa pela Igreja Católica, antecedida por quarenta dias de jejum, a Quaresma. Esse longo período de privações acabaria por incentivar a reunião de diversas festividades nos dias que antecediam a Quarta-feira de Cinzas, o primeiro dia da Quaresma. A palavra "carnaval" está, desse modo, relacionada com a ideia de deleite dos prazeres da carne marcado pela expressão "carnis valles", que, acabou por formar a palavra "carnaval", sendo que "carnis" do grego significa carne e "valles" significa prazeres.
Em geral, o carnaval tem a duração de três dias, os dias que antecedem a Quarta-feira de Cinzas. Em contraste com a Quaresma, tempo de penitência e privação, estes dias são chamados "gordos", em especial a terça-feira (Terça-feira gorda, também conhecida pelo nome francês Mardi Gras), último dia antes da Quaresma. Nos Estados Unidos, o termo mardi gras é sinônimo de Carnaval.
Carnival
Carnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnival typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party. People often dress up ormasquerade during the celebrations, which mark an overturning of daily life.
Carnival is a festival traditionally held in Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Orthodox societies. Protestant areas usually do not have carnival celebrations or have modified traditions, such as the Danish Carnival or other Shrove Tuesday events. TheBrazilian Carnaval is one of the best-known celebrations today, but many cities and regions worldwide celebrate with large, popular, and days-long events. The Carnival of Rio de Janeirois the biggest carnival in the world, and the biggest popular party on the planet, according TheGuinness Book of World Records 2010. The Rio de Janeiro Carnival is also considered the world's most famous.
History
The Lenten period of the Liturgical year Church calendar, being the six weeks directly before Easter, was marked by fasting and other pious or penetential practices. Traditionally during Lent, no parties or other celebrations were held, and people refrained from eating rich foods, such as meat, dairy, fats and sugar. The forty days of Lent, recalling the biblical account of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, serve to mark an annual time of turning. In the days before Lent, all rich food and drink had to be disposed of. The consumption of this, in a giant party that involved the whole community, is thought to be the origin of Carnival.
While it forms an integral part of the Christian calendar, particularly in Catholic regions, some carnival traditions may date back to pre-Christian times. The ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Bacchanalia may possibly have been absorbed into the Italian Carnival. The Saturnalia, in turn, may be based on the Greek Dionysia and Oriental festivals. While medieval pageants and festivals such as Corpus Christiwere church-sanctioned celebrations, carnival was also a manifestation of medieval folk culture. Many local carnival customs are based on local pre-Christian rituals, for example the elaborate rites involving masked figures in the Swabian-Alemannic carnival.
Some of the best-known traditions, including carnival parades and masquerade ball masquerading, were first recorded in medieval Italy. Thecarnival of Venice was for a long time the most famous carnival. From Italy, carnival traditions spread to the Catholic nations of Spain, Portugal, and France. From France, they spread to the Rhineland of Germany, and to New France in North America. From Spain and Portugal, they spread with Catholic colonization to the Caribbean and Latin America.
Carnival Around the World
Asia
[India
In India, Carnival is celebrated in the states of Goa, Gujarat, Odisha and Kerala. In Goa, Carnival is known as 'Intruz', and the largest celebration takes place in the city of Loutolim. The three-day-long festival of music and dancing in the streets culminates in a parade on Fat Tuesday. Crowds follow their partying with a buffet dinner of Goan cuisine.
Revellers at the modern Goan Carnival
Europe
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the city of Ljubuški holds a traditional carnival (Bosnian: Karneval). Ljubuški is a member of the Federation of European Carnival Cities (FECC).
Croatia
The most famous Croatian carnival (Croatian: "karneval", also called "maškare") is the Rijeka Carnival, during which the mayor of Rijeka hands over the keys to the city to the Carnival master ("meštar od karnevala") and the spirit of the Carnival takes over completely.
Carla del Ponte as witch at the Rijeka Carnival
Cyprus
Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, the Masopust festival takes place from Epiphany (Den tří králů) through Ash Wednesday (Popeleční středa). The wordmasopust translates literally from old Czech to mean "meat fast", and the festival often includes a pork feast in preparation for Lent. The tradition is most common in Moravia but does occur in Bohemia as well. While practices vary from region to region, masks and costumes are present everywhere.
Denmark
Carnival in Denmark is called Fastelavn, and is held on the Sunday or Monday before Ash Wednesday. The holiday is sometimes described as a Nordic Halloween, with children dressing in costume and gathering treats for the Fastelavn feast. One popular custom is thefastelavnsris, a switch that children use to flog their parents to wake them up on Fastelavns Sunday.
England
In England, the season immediately before Lent was called Shrovetide. It was a time for confessing sins (shriving) with fewer festivities than the Continental Carnivals. Today, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day, but little else of the Lent-related Shrovetide survived the 16th-century English Reformation. Possibly the only Shrovetide carnival in the United Kingdom is celebrated in Cowes and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight; it is the first carnival on the island's long and busy calendar.
France
The two major carnivals of France are the Nice Carnival and the Paris Carnival. The Nice Carnival was held as far back as 1294, and is still held annually, attracting over a million visitors yearly during the two weeks preceding Lent. The Paris Carnival occurs after the Feast of Foolsand dates back to the 16th century or earlier, although it was not held between 1952 and 1957.
Germany, Switzerland and Austria
Although the festival and party season in Germany starts on 11 November at 11:11 am, the actual Carnival week begins on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. German Carnival parades are held on the weekend before and especially on Rose Monday, and occasionally on Shrove Tuesday as well in the suburbs of larger cities. The carnival session begins each year on 11 November at 11:11 am and finishes on Ash Wednesday with the main festivities occurring around Rosenmontag; this time is also called the "Fifth Season."
Greece
Patras holds the largest annual carnival in Greece; the famous Patras Carnival is a 3-day spectacle replete with concerts, balles masqués, parading troupes, floats, a treasure hunt and many events for children
Patras Carnival: the float of King Carnival
Hungary
In Mohács, Hungary, the Busójárás is a celebration held at the end of the Carnival season, and involves locals dressing up in woolly costumes, with scary masks and noise-makers. They perform a burial ritual to symbolise the end of winter and spike doughnuts on weapons to symbolise the defeat of Ottomans.
,_2009.png)
The Busójárás in Hungary
Italy
The month-long carnival of Viareggio is one of the most renowned in Europe, and is characterized mainly by its parade of floats and marks caricaturizing popular figures. In 2001, the town built a new "Carnival citadel" dedicated to carnival preparations and entertainment.
Decorated floats at the Carnival of Viareggio
Macedonia
The Vevčani Carnival (Macedonian: Вевчански Kарневал, translated Vevchanski Karneval) has been held for over 1,400 years, and takes place on 13 and 14 January (New Year's Eve and New Year's Day by the old calendar). During the carnival, the village becomes a live theatre where costumed actors improvise on the streets in roles such as the traditional "August the Stupid."
The Battle of the Oranges at carnival of Ivrea
Malta
Carnival in Malta (Maltese: il-Karnival ta' Malta) has had an important place on the Maltese cultural calendar for just under five centuries, having been introduced to the Islands by Grand Master Piero de Ponte in 1535. It is held during the week leading up to Ash Wednesday, and typically includes masked balls, fancy dress and grotesque mask competitions, lavish late-night parties, a colourful, ticker-tape parade of allegorical floats presided over by King Carnival (Maltese: ir-Re tal-Karnival), marching bands and costumed revellers.
Netherlands
Carnival in the Netherlands is also called "Vastenavond" or "Vastelaovend", and is most celebrated in Catholic regions, mainly the southern provinces North Brabant and Limburg. Dutch Carnival is celebrated on the Saturday through Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday.
Poland
The Polish Carnival Season includes Fat Thursday (Polish: Tłusty Czwartek), when pączki (doughnuts) are eaten, and Śledzik (Shrove Tuesday) or Herring Day. The Tuesday before the start of Lent is also often called Ostatki (literally "lasts"), meaning the last day to party before the Lenten season.
The traditional way to celebrate Carnival is the kulig, a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the snow-covered countryside. In modern times, Carnival is increasingly seen as an excuse for intensive partying and night-clubbing, and has become more commercialized with stores offering Carnival-season sales.
Portugal
Ironically, although Portugal introduced Christianity and the customs related to Catholic practice to Brazil, the country has begun to adopt some aspects of Brazilian-style Carnival celebrations, in particular those of Rio de Janeiro with sumptuous parades, samba and other Brazilian musical elements.
Carnaval is celebrated throughout Portugal, but each region puts its own unique take on the festival.
Sesimbra Carnival, Portugal
Russia
Maslenitsa (Russian: Масленица, also called Pancake Week or "Cheese Week") is a Russian folk holiday that incorporates some traditions that date back to pagan times. It is celebrated during the last week before Lent. The essential element of Maslenitsa celebration is bliny, Russian pancakes, popularly taken to symbolize the sun. Round and golden, they are made from the rich foods still allowed during that week by the Orthodox traditions: butter, eggs, and milk (in the tradition of Orthodox lent, the consumption of meat ceases one week before the consumption of milk and eggs).
In Saint Petersburg the modern celebration of the festival is organized by the city to fall on a fixed date annually (at Sunday, closest to 27 May).
Carnival in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Slovakia
In Slovakia, the Fašiangy (fašiang, fašangy) takes place from Three Kings' Day (Traja králi) until the midnight before Ash Wednesday (Škaredá streda or Popolcová streda). At the midnight marking the end of fašiangy, a symbolic burial ceremony for the contrabass is performed, because music has to cease for the Lent.
Slovenia
Slovenia has a rich and diverse annual cycle of holidays. Much ethnic heritage has been preserved through widely attended tourist events.
Spain
Arguably the most famous locales in Spain are Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Sitges, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Tarragona, Solsona , Cádiz, Badajoz,Bielsa (an ancestral carnival celebration), Plan, San Juan de Plan, Laza, Verín, Viana and Xinzo de Limia.
Andalusia
In Cádiz the costumes worn are often related to recent news, such as the bird flu epidemic in 2006, during which many people were disguised as chickens. The feeling of this carnival is the sharp criticism, the funny play on words and the imagination in the costumes, more than the glamorous dressings. It is traditional to paint the face with lipstick as a humble substitute of a mask.
The most famous groups are the chirigotas, choirs and comparsas.
A choir singing in the Carnival ofCádiz
Canary Islands
The Santa Cruz de Tenerife is together with the Carnival of Cadiz, the most important festival for Spanish tourism and Spain's largest carnival.[9][10][11][12] In 1980 it was declared a Festival Tourist International Interest, by the Secretariat of State for the Tourism. Every February, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the largest of the Canary Islands, hosts the event, attracting around a million people. The celebrations could be declared by UNESCO as Heritage of Mankind in 2011. Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife now aspires to become a World Heritage Site.
Carnival Queen of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Catalonia
In Catalonia people dress up and organise parties for a week but particularly on the weekend. Despite it being winter, parties are open air, beginning with a cercavila to call everybody to come. Rues of people dance along the streets. On Thursday Dijous Gras is celebrated, also called 'the omelette day' (el dia de la truita), coques (de llardons, butifarra d'ou, butifarra) and omelettes are eaten. Parties end by burning Mr. Carnestoltes and with enterrament de la sardina (sardine's funeral).
North America
Caribbean
Most of the islands in the Caribbean celebrate Carnival. The largest and most well-known celebration is held in Trinidad and Tobago. TheDominican Republic, Antigua, Aruba, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Barbados, Haiti, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Maarten, Saint Lucia,Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands,Saint Thomas, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are also known for lengthy carnival seasons and large celebrations.
Carnival is an important cultural event on the Dutch Antilles islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba, Saint Eustatius (Statia), andBonaire. Festivities include "jump-up" parades with beautifully colored costumes, floats, and live bands as well as beauty contests and other competitions.
Aruba
The Antiguan Carnival is a celebration of music and dance held annually from the end of July to the first Tuesday in August. The most important day is that of the j'ouvert (or juvé), in which brass and steel bands perform for much of the island's population.
Barbados
Carnival in Barbados is known as Crop Over. Crop Over is Barbados' biggest festival, having had its early beginnings on the sugar cane plantations during the colonial period. The crop over tradition began in 1688, and featured singing, dancing and accompaniment by bottles filled with water, shak-shak, banjo, triangle, fiddle, guitar, and bones. Other traditions included climbing a greased pole, feasting and drinking competitions.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Carnival is celebrated in most cities and towns in the Dominican Republic.
It is celebrated in the main streets of each town during the month of February. One of the main characteristics of this carnival are its flashy costumes and the loud music played during the celebration. Some of the most known parades of this country are the one held in La Vega, which is one of the biggest in the country, and the National Parade held in Santo Domingo. It was here where the first carnival of the Americas was held, and it is also one of the biggest in the region.
One of the most international parades in the Dominican Republic is the one in San Pedro de Macoris that exhibits the "Guloyas", which are considered cultural heritage of the world. This parade consists of groups of people dressed in costumes dancing around the street of San Pedro de Macoris. The main attraction apart from the colorful costumes is the people running away from the "Diablos Cojuelos" which try to hit people with "Vejigas".
This is one of the many variations of the "Diablo Cojuelo". This variation is from Santiago.
Haiti
Haiti Kanaval has up to 1,000,000 people jamming the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince's Champs de Marse rock to Meringues (Haitian carnival melodies) on the Beton (the street course where the floats pass through).
The many different genres of Haitian Music are fully represented with the different bands that blaze through the beton New styles with foreign influence emerge continuously mixing Haitian sounds with techno, hip-hop, reggae, zouk, Fand soukous to name a few.
Haiti Carnival girls aboard the Krezi Mizik char at Kanaval 2009
Everybody knows the songs; every line, every chant has the audience ecstatic, with the floats themselves bouncing in time to the music. Condoms, thrown from floats and from the stands, were blown up like balloons. And long lines of people dance elaborate dances, turning the sensuality of the music into movement.
Haiti Carnival Royalty at the height of celebrations at the National Palace
Trinidad and Tobago
In Trinidad & Tobago, Carnival is a holiday season that lasts over a month and culminates in large celebrations in Port of Spain which is the capital of Trinidad, on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday with Dimanche Gras, J'ouvert, and Mas (masquerade). Tobago's celebrations also culminates on Monday and Tuesday but on a much smaller scale in its capital Scarborough. Carnival is a festive time of costumes, dance, music, competitions, rum, and partying (also referred to as fete-ing). Music styles associated with Carnival include soca, calypso
Masqueraders chipping on Carnival Tuesday in Port of Spain during Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
Guatemala
The largest Carnival celebration in Guatemala is in Mazatenango. During the month of February, Mazatenango is famous for its eight day Carnival Feast. Locals and visitors alike look forward to the days of food, music, parades, games, etc. that bring the streets of the capital city of the department of Suchitepéquez to life. As one Guatemalan website states, “To mention the carnival of Mazatenango is to bring to mind moments of a happy and cordial party. In the eight days of this celebration's duration the local residents have kept alive the traditions of the Department.”
Honduras
In La Ceiba in Honduras, Carnival is held on the fourth Saturday of every May to commemorate San Isidro. It is the largest Carnival celebration in Central America.
Nicaragua
In the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, in the city of Bluefields, the carnival, better known as Palo de Mayo (or Mayo Ya!), is celebrated every day of May.
In the Nicaragua's capital city, Managua, it is only celebrated for 2 days. The carnival in Managua is named "Alegria por la vida" translated to"Joy for Life" and features a different theme each year.
There's also a Festival In Managua which is called " Santo Domingo de Guzman" which lasts ten days.
Mexico
In Mexico, Carnival is celebrated in many cities and towns, most notably in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mérida, Yucatán, and in the city of Veracruz, where Carnival is celebrated with traditional music, folklore, arts and dances. People dress in bright, feathered costumes resembling the indigenous traditions, and create a series of performances on the streets as well as on stages. In most cases there is a large set-up of fair games and roller coasters. Both Mazatlán's and Veracruz's celebrations are often compared to the carnival of Rio de Janeiro or New Orleans. In Copándaro de Galeana, Michoacán carnival is celebrated with lively parades often surrounding bull riding, cockfights and dancing.
[edit]Panama
The Panamanian Carnival is the second biggest festival in the world. Traditionally beginning on Friday and ending on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, "los carnavales", as Panamanians refer to the days of carnival, are celebrated in almost the whole country. Carnival Week in Panama is specially popular because of the luxury and magnitude of the Las Tablas Carnival as well as the carnival celebrations in Panama City and almost all of the Azuero Peninsula. The Panamanian Carnival is also popular because of the great number of concerts by national and international artists held on different stages in the most visited areas of the country.
Canada
Caribana, held in Toronto on the first weekend of August, has its origins in the carnival traditions of the Caribbean, notably Trinidad and Tobago. Due to climatic imperatives, Caribana is held in the summer when Caribbean costumes may be paraded comfortably, rather than adhering to the traditional winter dates of the other carnivals in which the festival is strongly rooted.[16] Attendance at the Caribana parade typically exceeds one million people.
The Quebec Winter Carnival is the biggest winter-themed carnival in the world.[citation needed] It depends on good snowfalls and very cold weather, to keep snowy ski trails in good condition and the many ice sculptures intact. For this reason it does not coincide with the pre-Lent celebration but is fixed instead to the last days of January and first days of February.
In the Ottawa-Gatineau region, Winterlude takes place during the first 4weeks of February.
United States
Main articles: Mardi Gras in the United States and Mardi Gras
Carnival celebrations, usually referred to as Mardi Gras, were first celebrated in the Gulf Coast area of the United States, but now occur in many other states. Customs originated in the onetime French colonial capitals of Mobile (now in Alabama), New Orleans (Louisiana) andBiloxi (Mississippi), all of which have been celebrated for many years with street parades and masked balls. Other major U.S. cities with celebrations include Tampa, Florida, St. Louis, Missouri, Pensacola, Florida, San Diego, California, Galveston, Texas and Orlando, Florida.
Carnival is celebrated in New York City in the Borough of Brooklyn. As in the UK, the timing of carnival has been separated from the Christian calendar and is celebrated on Labor Day Monday, in September. It is called the West Indian Day Parade or West Indian Day Carnival, and was founded by immigrants from Trinidad, one of the West Indian islands that has one of the largest Carnivals of the Caribbean region. In the mid twentieth century, West Indians moved the timing of the New York area Carnival from the beginning of Lent to the Labor Day weekend. The West Indian Day Carnival is one of the largest parades and street festivals in New York with usually over one million people participating or attending. The parade, which consists of steel bands, floats, elaborate carnival costumes and sound trucks proceeds down Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
[edit]Louisiana
Main article: New Orleans Mardi Gras
Major Mardi Gras celebrations are spreading to other parts of the United States, such as the Mississippi Valley region of St. Louis, Missouri, Orlando, Florida in Universal Studios, and in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, California.
South America
Argentina
In Argentina, the most representative carnival performed is the so called Murga, although other famous carnival, more Brazilian stylized, are held in the Argentine Mesopotamia and the North-East. Gualeguaychú in the east of Entre Ríos province is the most important carnival city and has one of the largest parades, with a similar afro-American musical background to Brazilian or Uruguayan Carnival. Corrientes is another city with a lively carnival tradition. Chamame, a kind of polka is played during the carnivals. In all major cities and many towns throughout the country, Carnival is also celebrated, but less famous than in the above mentioned places.
As carnival coincides with summer, in many parts of Argentina children play with water. The 19th century tradition of filling empty egg shells with water has evolved into water games that include the throwing of water balloons.
Bolivia
La Diablada carnival, takes place in the city of Oruro in central Bolivia. It is celebrated in honor of the patron saint of the miners, Vírgen de Socavon (the Virgin of the Tunnels). Over 50 parade groups dance, sing and play music over a five kilometre-long course. Participants dress up as demons, devils, angels, Incas and Spanish conquerors. There are various kinds of dances such as caporales and tinkus. The parade runs from morning until late at night, 18 hours a day, 3 days before Ash Wednesday. Meanwhile throughout the country celebrations are held involving traditional rhythms and water parties. In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, at the east side of the country, the tropical weather allows a Brazilian-type carnival, with agropuations of people called "Comparsas" dancing traditional songs in matching uniforms.
Brazil
The Carnival in Brazil is a big part of the Brazilian Culture, and it is sometimes referred to by the Brazilians as the "Greatest Show on Earth".
Carnival parade in São Paulo, Gaviões da Fiel Torcida Samba School.
Salvador has large Carnival celebrations, including the Axé, typical Bahia music. A truck with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as Axé music, Samba-reggaeand Arrocha, is driven with the following crowd both dancing and singing. It was originally staged by two Salvador musicians, Dodo & Osmar, in the 1950s. Several cities in the state of Bahia still celebrate Carnaval this way, with as most popular the carnival of Porto Seguro.
Carnaval Salvador ...
Another important part of the Brazilian Carnival takes place in the Rio Carnival, with samba schoolsparading in the Sambadrome ("sambódromo" in Portuguese). It's the largest carnival event in this country, considered to be the largest of the kind in the world. Called "One of the biggest shows of the Earth", the festival attracts millions of tourists, both Brazilians and foreigners who come from everywhere to participate and enjoy the great show. Samba Schools are large, social entities with thousands of members and a theme for their song and parade each year. Tourists are allowed to participate, paying ($500–750) to buy a Samba costume and dance in the parade through the Sambadrome with one of the schools. The price paid is used to buy the tourist's own costume and also the costumes of the people who do not have the money to afford it. Blocos are generally small informal groups also with a definite theme in their samba, usually satirical of the current political situation. But there are also a lot, about 30 of them in Rio de Janeiro, that are very big in number of participants, gathering hundreds of thousands of people. There are more than 200 blocos in Rio de Janeiro. Bandas are samba musical bands, usually formed by enthusiasts in the same neighborhood.
Rio de Janeiro
Porto Alegre
Colombia
Although Carnival was introduced by the Spaniards and has incorporated elements from the European cultures, it has managed to re-interpret traditions that belonged to the African and Amerindian cultures of Colombia. There is documentary evidence that Carnival existed in Colombia in the 18th century and had already been a cause for concern for the colonial authorities, who censored the celebrations, especially in the main political centres such as Cartagena, Bogotá and Popayán.
Ecuador
In Ecuador, the celebrations have a history that begins before the arrival of Catholicism. It is known that the Huarangas Indians (from the Chimbos nation) used to celebrate the second moon of the year with a festival at which they threw flour, flowers and perfumed water. This once pagan tradition has since merged with the Catholic celebration of Carnaval.
French Guiana
The Carnival of French Guiana is a major aspect of the culture of that country. Although its roots are in the Creole culture, everyone participates – mainland French, Brazilians (Guiana has a frontier with Brazil) and Chinese as well as creoles.
Its duration is variable, determined by movable religious festivals: Carnival begins at Epiphany and ends on Ash Wednesday, and so typically lasts through most of January and February. During this period, from Friday evening until Monday morning the entire country throbs to the rhythm of the masked balls and street parades. Normal life slows almost to a stop.
Friday afternoons are the time for eating galette des rois (the cake of kings) and drinking champagne. The cake may be flavoured withfrangipani, guava, or coconut.
Four touloulous
Peru
The town of Cajamarca is considered the capital of Peruvian carnival. Local residents of all ages as well as tourists dance around the unhsa, or yunsa, a tree adorned with ribbons, balloons, toys, fruits, bottles of liquor, and other prizes.
Morenada dance, in the carnival of the Juliaca city - Perú.
The Peruvian carnival consists mostly of violent games that last all the month of February, extending to early March if Ash Wednesday falls on March, but rarely ending when it falls on February.[18]Quoting the Lima police chief "The carnival is associated with criminal actions"[19] (2007). It has even gone to major consequences.
Uruguay
The Carnival in Uruguay is the longest of the world, with more than 80 days of celebration, generally occurring in January through mid March, with celebrations in Montevideo, the capital, being the largest and brightiest.
Afro-Uruguayans gathering for aCandombe celebration, ca. 1870
Venezuela
Carnival in Venezuela (2 days of festivals, 40 days before Easter) is a time when youth in many rural towns have water fights. Anybody and everybody that is out in the streets during the week of Carnival is subject to being soaked. Coastal town and provinces celebrate carnival much more fervently these days than any place in the country. Venezuela regard carnival about the same way they regard Christmas and Semana Santa (Holy Week; the week before Easter Sunday) when they take the opportunity to visit their families and enjoy this festive time with them.
