Carnival: The funniest days of the year.

February is the month of Carnival. In the present year, this popular celebration will be on 20th and, as always, kids and grown ones will do the usual. There will be street parades with allegoric cars, people wearing masks, especially children, and many innocent tricks. That’s the Portuguese Carnival.

Carnival is a public celebration with Christian origins. The tradition comes from the year 1091, when Catholic Church definitively established Lent’s date. However, Protestants never recognized this festivity and even Catholic Church has forbidden it for some periods. This happened because many have seen Carnival as a celebration with pagan roots; as it is seen even today.

The word “carnival” has an uncertain origin. Nowadays, the most accepted explanation reports that this word means “goodbye to meat”, from the Latin words “carnem” (meat) and “levare” (take). This explanation has implicit the idea of fasting. The day after Carnival (named Ash Wednesday) marks the beginning of Lent, which is a period of abstinence that ends on Easter day. In this period, many practices weren’t allowed and food, in particular, was strongly restricted.
 
This was the starting point of this celebration and it spread across all over the Europe during the medieval age. This tradition of western cultures had its most important models in Paris and Venice. Carnival extended from these cities all over the world. In our days, Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans and Venice are the world icons of this celebration, each one with its characteristics.

In Portugal, the festival has its own symbols and practices mixed with many other influences. Some customs as masks and allegoric cars come from Greece and the festivals in Venice. In fact, these traditions were already used during the Renaissance or even in older times. On the other hand, Portuguese Carnival has its typical Gigantones” (huge dolls with huge heads), Cegadas and many regional traditions as Caretos (see our other articles).

This Portuguese celebration always had a particular tendency to excesses. Traditionally, people had the habit to do little tricks and jokes,

Besides these giant friends, you can see in our streets huge parades with allegoric cars and many people wearing masks, dancing and playing drums. Music and fun are the ingredients of these parades. The most well known Carnivals in Portugal are in Alcobaça, Ovar, Loulé, Sines and Torres Vedras. This last one is known as the most typical and old Carnival of Portugal.

However, you can find little parties and Carnival Balls (thematic bashes where everyone is masked) in every bar, cultural association or sport club. The main goal is always the same: enjoying the time and having fun.