The message about the carnival is briefly the most important. History of the carnival. Cologne Carnival. Germany

In the Middle Ages, this day destroyed barriers between classes, ignored the rules of decency and allowed open ridicule of authority. It was a time of uncontrolled fun, relaxation and permissiveness. Schools and courts were closed. Misunderstandings and quarrels were forgotten. Even wars stopped moving.

Anna Baklaga learned how the carnival originated and what traditions have survived to this day.

Carnival is a day of unimaginable transformations. Bright outfits, general rejoicing, fiery dances and jokes - it is difficult to ignore such a procession. Therefore, every year, in February, thousands of people come to the birthplace of this holiday - Europe. The word carnival itself is of Italian origin and is translated as “farewell to meat.” The fact is that initially, this event meant farewell to meat food and entertainment before Lent. And only on the day of the carnival did people allow themselves almost everything. The most important difference between carnival and other holidays is the abolition of all social statuses. And if other official holidays demonstratively emphasized the hierarchical differences of people, then the carnival was their complete opposite. The man seemed to be reborn. The carnival site opened up the possibility of relationships that were completely unusual for a certain type of people.

During the carnival, people allowed themselves almost everything

The prototype of this holiday in the pre-Christian era can be called the Roman Saturnalia. They were associated with the end of agricultural work. The motive was rest, and a revolution in the existing world order. Power passed to a fictitious king, the lower classes became the highest. In a word, people changed places and did things that they could not afford in ordinary life. The face mask was the main component of the image. She allowed him to remain unrecognized and avoid punishment for his tricks. Masked people could publicly criticize unjust authorities and those who hid their immoral actions. Moreover, this was done in an extremely harsh manner.

After some time, the tradition of carnival spread throughout Europe. Now, this holiday is celebrated all over the world. However, in each country it has its own history and unique style.

Venice Carnival

The Venice Carnival is considered one of the most popular in the world. It is characterized by mystery and mysticism. In addition to the traditional rituals, which represent a huge stage action, the Venetian Carnival takes place every year under a special theme. This spectacle captures the spirit of visitors and not only. The whole city becomes the scene of the action. The opening ceremony of the carnival is held in the main square of the city, in front of the Cathedral of St. Mark the Apostle. It is from there that the first costume parade begins.

In Italy, white masks with a long nose were worn during the plague, or killer

At the carnival in Venice, you can find a whole abundance of mysterious masks. And only there you can see the masquerade regatta of local gondoliers. By the way, the white mask with a huge nose, beloved by tourists, has unpleasant associations for the townspeople. Indeed, in Italy, such masks were worn during the plague, and a sponge with vinegar was placed in the long nose so as not to catch the disease. Also, it was worn by very mysterious people or killers.

Brazilian Carnival

An unforgettable show, fantastic outfits, complete freedom of expression - all this resonated in Rio. The popular Brazilian carnival “came” to the country from Portugal. The capital of the procession is the city of Rio de Janeiro, where the festival lasts four days and four nights. The main pride of the carnival in Brazil is the parade of samba schools. The most best representatives different schools compete on a 700-meter-long alley called the “Sambodrome”. There are between three and five thousand speakers. Each group of dancers is assigned a specific theme, which they choose annually. And, in accordance with the chosen theme, each team designs its own platform, choreography, presentation and costumes.

The Brazilian carnival has from 3 to 5 thousand performers

Every detail in this show is thought out to the smallest detail, because the competition evaluates not only the skills of dance schools. Costumes, scenery, artistic embodiment of the theme, rhythmic accuracy, as well as the degree of enthusiasm of the public are brought before the experts. During the carnival, people in Rio de Janeiro forget about work and immerse themselves in the rhythm of the samba, which is danced by almost the entire city.

Cologne Carnival

Numerous festivities, dressing up, musical performances and costume balls - all this did not escape the residents of Cologne. A grandiose carnival procession passes through the central streets and squares of the city. A few months before the main holiday, the organizers come up with a slogan for the carnival - a song with which the procession will take place, and three main characters. Traditionally, they are the prince, the peasant and the maiden. And already in February, carnival meetings, balls and processions begin to take place in the city. And this continues for six days. From early morning, during the official opening of the holiday, the streets of the city are filled with women. They storm the Cologne City Hall and do whatever they want on that day. Every day the city is filled with vibrant musical and carnival events. At the end of the carnival, a mandatory ritual is performed - the burning of a large straw effigy. Residents of the city believe that in this way, before Lent, all the sins accumulated over the year are forgiven.

Carnival in Nice

Residents of the city celebrate the holiday in Nice for two weeks. The main characters of the carnival are giant papier-mâché dolls. They weigh up to two tons and tower eight or twelve meters above the carts. An entire prefabricated stadium is being erected on Place Massena, and the houses are dressed in 120 thousand square meters of plywood, which is painted by 120 artists.

Carnival in Nice continues for two weeks

You can also see real flower processions there. About twenty platforms are decorated with fresh flowers. To do this long and painstaking work, florists need 4000-5000 stems. Later, during the walk, thousands of flowers fly into the crowd. The cheerful holiday is accompanied by concerts, fireworks, and His Majesty Carnival, with its queen.

Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The Spanish carnival is second in size only to the Brazilian procession. Dressed in a variety of costumes, almost everyone takes part in the carnival. Live music is played throughout and various souvenirs and food are sold. Various balls, performances and concerts take place. There is also a parade of fiery dances to Latin American melodies. A significant event of the holiday can be called the selection of the carnival queen, who will participate in the holiday throughout the days.

Carnival costumes can weigh more than tens of kilograms

Candidates for this are selected throughout the year. The queen must be not only beautiful, but also quite hardy. After all, all these incredible costumes that are sewn for the carnival can weigh more than tens of kilograms.

Carnival in Barranquilla

This unique carnival features Caribbean folklore, poetry-inspired dance, comedy theatre, costumed performances and bands. The Colombian Carnival has been named an "intangible treasure of humanity" by UNESCO. During the holiday, which is multicultural in nature, everyone in the city is immersed in an illusory world of dreams.

Celebrated before Lent. Similar to the East Slavic Maslenitsa or Meat Empty among the Catholic Slavs (see Fat Tuesday). Distributed mainly in Catholic countries. Accompanied by mass public celebrations with street processions and theatrical performances.

Carnival appeared in the 9th-10th centuries. The earliest mentions of periodic city festivals in different cities date back to this time. Western Europe. The first carnivals appeared in Italy - the Venice Carnival, where large independent cities appeared first. Then carnivals appeared in France, and most recently in Germany: Mainz, Düsseldorf and Cologne.

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Etymology

The origin of the word “carnival” is not clearly understood; a connection is assumed either with Italian word"carne" (meat), or with "carrus" (cart) [ ] .

Supporters of the origin from "carne" point to variants of this word in Italian dialects , claiming that the source is words carne levare“remove meat” prohibited in Lent.

There is a version of the origin from the Roman name of the festival Navigium Isidis- "carrus navalis".

Folk etymology - the origin of the word from carne vale“farewell to meat” (cf. meat-empty).

Celebration

Folk festive forms usually constituted the second, unofficial half of the holiday, while the first was associated with the performance of certain church rituals. Only in the 18th and 19th centuries. they separated, and the carnival began to exist as one of the types of mass entertainment.

The most important part of any carnival is the procession along the main streets of the city. Its leading motive is abundance, which must be satisfied before Lent. It can be expressed in huge piles of agricultural products, flowers, and foods that are fed to everyone. Everything that happens during the procession is emphatically playful in nature. The main figure at the carnival is the jester. He sets the tone for both the procession and the performance, which then unfolds in the central square of the city.

In each city, the carnival developed according to a certain scenario that had developed over many years. The carnival was usually led by city merchant corporations. For example, the organizer of the Butter Carnival in Nuremberg was traditionally a corporation of butchers, and in France - a corporation of winemakers.

European cities (including some Russian ones) that hold traditional carnivals are united by the Association of European Carnival Cities (FECC).

A detailed description of the carnival is available in the novel by François Rabelais "Gargantua and Pantagruel".

Researchers point to the relationship between Western European carnival and Russian Maslenitsa. A foreigner who visited Moscow under Ivan the Terrible wrote: “Maslenitsa reminds me of the Italian carnival, which is celebrated at the same time and in the same way... Carnival differs only from Maslenitsa in that in Italy, day and night at this time, horse and foot city guards patrol guards and does not allow unnecessary violence; and in Moscow the very guards get drunk on wine and, together with the people, are willful.”

Etymology

The origin of the word “carnival” is not clearly understood; a connection is suggested either with the Italian word “carne” (meat) or with “carrus” (cart). The first theory assumes a Christian origin, and the second - pagan.

Proponents of a derivation from "carne" point to variations of the word in Italian dialects, arguing that the source is the words carne levare“remove meat” prohibited in Lent.

There is a version of the origin from the Roman name of the festival Navigium Isidis - “carrus navalis”.

Folk etymology - the origin of the word from carne vale(farewell to meat).

Celebration

The most important part of any carnival is the procession along the main streets of the city. Its leading motive is abundance, originating from ancient harvest festivals. It can be expressed in huge piles of agricultural products, flowers, and foods that are fed to everyone. Everything that happens during the procession is emphatically playful in nature. The main figure at the carnival is the jester. He sets the tone for both the procession and the performance, which then unfolds in the central square of the city.

In each city, the carnival developed according to a certain scenario that had developed over many years. The city merchant corporations were usually at the head of the carnival. For example, the organizer of the Butter Carnival in Nuremberg was traditionally a corporation of butchers, and in France - a corporation of winemakers.

- (Italian: carnevale goodbye meat). The time of folk fun and entertainment in Western Europe begins on the day of Epiphany and ends on Wednesday, the day of remembrance of the dead. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910.… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

carnival- CARNIVAL, CARANAVAL, CRANAVAL a, m. carnaval m., German. Carnaval, floor karnawal, it. carnovale.1. Catholic Shrovetide. Dahl. In the Romanesque countries of Western Europe, a spring folk festival is accompanied by camouflage and mimic games... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

CARNIVAL, carnival, husband. (Italian carnevale). 1. In the Romanesque countries of Western Europe, there is a spring folk festival, accompanied by camouflage and mimic games (corresponding to Russian Maslenitsa). Roman Carnival. 2. Festive revolutionary... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

Celebration, holiday, festival Dictionary of Russian synonyms. carnival noun, number of synonyms: 5 Maslenitsa (14) ... Synonym dictionary

- (Italian Carnevale, from Latin carno meat, vale hello) in Catholic countries the original time was from the day of Epiphany to Clean Wednesday (in the first week of Lent). In different places, carnival time has different durations: in Venice... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

- (French carnaval) a type of folk festival with street processions, theatrical games... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

A cultural and mass behavioral phenomenon, based on the corresponding ‘type of imagery’ (M.M. Bakhtin). He was a significant component of medieval and Renaissance folk culture. Used in modern philosophy of culture. Multidimensional... ... History of Philosophy: Encyclopedia

CARNIVAL, ah, husband. Folk festival with processions, street masquerade [original. spring holidays in Italy]. | adj. carnival, oh, oh. Pageant. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

The history of the carnival goes back to ancient times - its ancestors are considered to be the ancient Roman Saturnalia - a time when the holiday erased strict differences between classes, drawing everyone into the abyss of enjoying life. It was then that the tradition of hiding faces under masks arose so that people could behave as they wanted, leaving the norms of public morality for a while. According to one version, the very name of the holiday came from there - from the Latin carrus-navalis, “chariot-ship”. However, the majority is of the opinion that the word “carnival” comes from the combination of the words “carne-vale”, which can be literally translated as “farewell meat” - after all, later the holiday began to be held seven weeks before Easter (mid-February - early March), to give you the opportunity to have a lot of fun before Lent. Each country has its own traditions for this time, but everyone is invariably united by the spirit of joy and noisy freedom.

Venice - the city of masks

The most famous carnival in Europe takes place in Venice. This holiday reached its peak during the Renaissance. The ten days before Lent were devoted to unbridled fun and freedom of morals - not to commit a sin at this time is considered bad manners among the Venetians. Masks and carnival costumes hid their owners and allowed them to behave as they pleased. The carnival traditionally begins with the descent of an angel - an acrobat descends on a rope from the bell tower to St. Mark's Square and scatters confetti. Then the “Parade of Marys” is held - the best one is chosen from twelve young Venetian girls. Traditional costumes and masks are almost a mandatory attribute of the holiday. But if you can still do without it on the street, then it is impossible to get to the balls, which are held in large numbers at this time, “in civilian clothes.” The most popular costumes are those of the “commedia dell’arte” characters, although there are no strict canons here. Everyone chooses what they like. The cost of a suit can be unpredictable - sometimes it amounts to thousands of euros. However, everyone is allowed to participate in the holiday, regardless of the complexity of the costume. Lately The Venice carnival is dedicated to a chosen theme - for example, it could be the East (2004) or “999 years of carnivals and holidays in Venice” (1999). The holiday ends with the traditional burning of the effigy and general dancing in St. Mark's Square, the same place where it all begins.

Rio is the king of carnival

Carnival is a European tradition, but for many years now the well-deserved palm has been held by the Brazilian Rio de Janeiro. The holiday was brought in by Portuguese settlers in the 17th century, but pretty soon it became a national property and acquired a Latin American flavor, in which European, African and Indian traditions were intricately mixed. The folk festivities were quite large-scale, people sang, danced, throwing all sorts of things at each other - eggs, plaster balls, beans and bags of water and other liquids. New page in the history of carnival began in the 20th century, when the first samba was written in 1917, which gave its name to the incendiary dance of the same name. Now the parade of samba schools is the central event of the holiday, taking place along a 700-meter-long street specially built for this purpose - the samba-drome. Only fourteen schools that have achieved a place in the Major League can take part in it. The holiday lasts four days and begins with the symbolic handing over of the keys to the king of the carnival, Momo, who is chosen among the most well-fed residents of the city. Preparations for the holiday begin long before the appointed date (it depends on the day of Easter), and no reason can force Brazilians to skimp on costumes and decorations. However, everyone has the same goal - to make the strongest possible impression on the audience and the jury. Competitions between schools last two nights, and only the most resilient can withstand them - this applies to both participants in the procession and spectators. Quirky and bright suits mandatory, although in hot climates they prefer a minimum of clothing and a maximum of shine. The local carnival is considered the brightest and most sparkling.

To the Canary Islands!

Tenerife is the largest island of the Canary archipelago. This is where the second largest carnival celebration takes place after the Brazilian one. He came here with the Spaniards and is still celebrated with pleasure. In 1997, the local carnival was included in the Guinness Book of Records - at the same time 240,000 people danced all night long in the streets of the capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

It all begins with the election of the Carnival Queen and the Junior Carnival Queen, and for the next ten days, life on the street turns into an endless competition between dancers, musicians and various carnival groups. Moreover, it is almost impossible to remain an outside observer! The highlight of the show is a parade called "Coso", which begins on Tuesday afternoon. It all ends with a comical “sardine funeral” - amid the lamentations of inconsolable mourners (who are usually mustachioed men), a huge papier-mâché fish is put on fire. And then traditionally comes the first day of fasting.

Colonial style

The North American continent is famous for the New Orleans carnival. The holiday has French roots and combines sophistication and frivolity. It is called the same as in Paris - Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). The “warm-up” before the big celebration begins on January 6 and gradually approaches the climax, which falls on the same two weeks before Lent. The most colorful event is the Bacchus Parade. Beads and aluminum medallions are thrown from the motorcades, which are very popular among spectators. Seats for the parade are sometimes occupied from very early in the morning. The parade in the French Quarter is considered the most scandalous episode. Here, the object of loot for spectators is plastic beads and coconuts. In order to attract the attention of the thrower, women boldly expose their breasts or lift up their T-shirts. However, in any other neighborhood, this could land you in police custody, despite the carnival. Restaurants benefit the most from this time - New Orleans is famous for its cuisine, which is highly revered by gourmets.

Fifth season

Fundamental Germans singled out the “fifth season” for the carnival. It officially begins on November 11 at 11.11 am (this month the Festive Committee for organizing the carnival begins its work, and the event itself takes place, as expected, a week before Lent). This set of numbers is explained by the fact that eleven is considered the number of the fool, and therefore is very suitable for fun. Cologne and Dusseldorf have long been fighting for the status of the German carnival capital. Both cities have a whole range of holiday traditions and every year, seven weeks before Easter, they try to outdo each other. The holiday opens with “Indian Thursday” - on this day women storm the town hall and become the mistresses of the city. The next two days pass relatively peacefully - with gatherings and beer, but on Saturday there is a Parade of Spirits - anyone can dress up as a spirit or ghost and take part in it. Sunday is Children's Day - everything is done just for them. On Monday, at the obligatory 11.11. The culmination of the holiday comes - a big parade, the main characters of which are the constant Prince, the Maiden and the Peasant. It is important for the viewer to take a “brisk” place - during the procession, all sorts of sweets fly like a hail into the crowd. The holiday ends on Tuesday with the burning of a traditional effigy, so that by the first Wednesday of Lent life will return to normal.

Leisurely Switzerland

Switzerland is the only country where the carnival begins later than all others - in the first week of Lent. The carnival lasts exactly three days, from 4.00 Monday to 4.00 Thursday. And basically it is not much different from the holiday with the neighbors. There is a main parade, there are traveling bands performing in the streets and in taverns, and there is a lot of confetti. What is worthy of attention is the “cliques” - special carnival gangs that play a major role in the celebration and when meeting each other at night street they begin to compete to see who can fake an ancient march the most (the ability to play the flute or drum is required for each member of the gang). But, like everywhere else, the carnival here is a reason for fun in anticipation of the coming spring. This means the beginning of a new, and necessarily happy, page in life.