Love it or hate it, Carnival season is here once more.
No sooner do we get Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Reyes out of the
way without time to draw breath, than along comes the big daddy of all
street parties, Carnival.
Now there are only two choices when it comes to Carnival. Pack your bags
and head for somewhere quiet, or stop moaning and enjoy yourselves, as
most people do.
OK, you may not be able to do it all but with a bit of planning you can
pick the bits you like and snatch the occasional rest in between.
That is, of course, unless you are one of those indestructible Canarians,
in which case you can do it all and still get up and go to work the next
day.
It’s tradition, you see, and like anything traditional somehow or
other it’s possible to summon up the energy to go with the flow.
** Eye-catching – Gerard Depardieu
and Sophia Loren at the Santa Cruz judging.(left)
Like so much in the Christian world, Carnival probably has its roots
in the ancient worlds of Egypt, Greece and Rome.
Carnival as we know it today has its roots in the celebration of Lent
when Christians traditionally give up many of life’s pleasures and
fasted.
But the word is thought to have come from the Old Italian Carnelevare.
Carne, from the Latin car?, meaning meat and levare, to remove or go without.
So, Carnival is to go without meat and, in Christian terms, most of life’s
pleasures as well. But the perversity of Carnival, expressed in the cross-dressing
and rebelliousness of the populace, means that nobody really goes without
the pleasure.
We’ll do as you say but we’ll do it our way is the message
they put out just before giving everything up for Lent.
As the French, Spanish, and Portuguese began to take control of the Americas
and other parts of the world, they brought with them their tradition of
celebrating Carnival.
Where Catholic Europeans set up colonies and entered into the slave trade,
Carnival took root.
Brazil, once a Portuguese colony, is famous for its Carnival, as is Mardi
Gras in Louisiana, where African-Americans mixed with French settlers
and Native Americans.
Carnival celebrations are now found throughout the Caribbean in Barbados,
Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, Haiti, Cuba, St Thomas, St Marten; in Central
and South America in Belize, Panama, and Brazil; and in large cities in
Canada and the U.S. where Caribbean people have settled, including Brooklyn,
Miami, and Toronto.
The real origins of Carnival go right back to the pagan festivals in honour
of the gods Isis and Apis in Egypt and processions including dancing and
satirical plays, held in honour of the god Dionysus, were also known in
ancient Greece.
Later came the revels held in ancient Rome in honour of the god Bacchus,
where all the people, regardless of class, took part and roles were reversed.
Men waited on the women, the householders on their slaves and in the army
the soldiers elected a comical ‘king’ who dressed up to preside
over the festivities.
But it was the Spanish conquistadors who arrived in the middle of the
14th century who brought traditions of Carnival to Tenerife and the rest
of the Canaries.
According to accounts of the time, well-off families in Tenerife celebrated
dances and fiestas in the 18th century and it was these that were the
forerunners of the modern Carnival.
Many of the modern day elements, such as the masks and fancy dress, can
be traced back to Roman times. Fancy dress or disguise was usually associated
with the ancient death cults and by taking part in the revels in honour
of Bacchus or Saturn one could appease the spirits of the dead.
A person dressed in white with a masked face represented the spirits of
the dead and the modern Burial of the Sardine can be traced back to this
tradition.
Carnival spread around the world with Europeans and reached South America
where Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro festival went on to become the largest
street party in the world.
Even in more staid Britain, many towns still hold processions with Carnival
floats and fancy dress parades and of course, in more recent years the
Notting Hill Carnival, held over a number of days, has become internationally
famous.
But Carnival has had its ups and downs.
There have been several times in history when the church or the state
has banned Carnival.
During the Franco era Carnival was banned in Spain to re-emerge only after
his death in 1975.
However, being Canarians, there is evidence that Tenerifans began celebrating
Carnival secretly in their homes as early as 1945.
In 1965 the Winter Celebrations in Santa Cruz, as Carnival was called,
were declared of tourist interest, which is why two years later, in 1967,
the Santa Cruz Carnival became a Celebration of National Tourist Interest.
The name Winter Celebrations stayed until 1976 when, without the censorships
that characterised the Franco dictatorship, they finally adopted the name
of Carnival, going on to become one of the largest and most colourful,
second only to Rio de Janeiro.
Far more recently the west coast village of Los Gigantes held its first
Carnival in 1981, and is traditionally celebrated in the week after Ash
Wednesday.
As to the Burial of the Sardine tradition, no one is really sure of its
origin.
Some say it goes back to the Roman Death cults while others say it is
related to Harvest Festivals held elsewhere.
Whatever the real answer it surely has its roots in appeasing the gods
in the hope of a good harvest, whether from the land or the sea.
|
Carnival
is fun for everyone. But it can be tough for those beautiful girls right
at the centre of it all, the Carnival Queens.
So
Carnival in Santa Cruz, the second biggest in the world after Rio de
Janeiro, is coming to a close. But don’t even think of relaxing
yet; the fat lady hasn’t even begun to draw breath to sing.
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