The Origins of Carnival
by: Bill Ross
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Most modern people enjoy putting together a string of wild parties and parades to help blow out the cobwebs of a too-long Winter, and to renew their spirits for the coming Spring. In famous Carnival locations like New Orleans, Rio and Venice, tourism has caused long-standing traditions to become enhanced and enriched with modern touches. For the locals in these places -- most of whom are poor -- Carnival represents a few days of singing and dancing, a welcome respite from the tedium and trouble of workaday life. The majority of carnival revelers would be surprised to know that this has been going on at least since 500 BC, maybe even longer.
The Roman Era.
Carnival started out as a Roman holiday -- a very ancient one. Lupercalia was celebrated during the years of the Kingdom of Rome (753-509 BC) as a shepherd's feast day to honor Lupercus, god of shepherds. In the days of the Republic (509-52 BC) Lupercalia became associated with Lupa, the she-wolf who suckled the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The "Lupercal" is the cave at the base of the Palatine Hill in Rome where tradition holds that the boys were mothered by the wolf. The festival was marked by having local men of status run naked through the streets, gently striking the women who stood in their way with soft whips. It was thought that if you were barren this would help you conceive.
Lupercalia came on the ides of February (the 15th usually). It has been preserved in Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. The very first scene takes place during Lupercalia, when the soothsayer famously warned Caesar about the "Ides of March." It is traditional to stage this scene with characters wearing goatskins and masks and striking playfully at passers by.
While all this was going on in ancient Rome, something else important was happening: Rome was transforming from an agricultural center into a commercial hub. Many members of the new merchant class were women who had accumulated wealth in the world of commerce. Under Roman law since earliest times, a woman, when she married, lost what lawyers call her "legal personality." That is, all her wealth passed to her husband, and she no longer was recognized as a person under the law. She could not make contracts, and she could not own anything. She was said to be "in manu" -- "in the hand" -- of her husband. The same, incidentally, was true of the children and servants of the household. The "paterfamilias" held them all "in manu." You didn't have to have a formal wedding for this to happen, either. A woman who spent a full year under the old man's roof as his marital companion automatically fell "in manu," even if no one had blessed the arrangement.
There was a loophole in the system. If, in every year, a woman spent three consecutive nights away from the house, that was sufficient to stop the automatic "in manu" status. Her assets and legal personality would be secured.
By tradition, all the women of Rome who sought to preserve their legal status would absent themselves from their husbands at the same time every year. This was at the time of Lupercalia. Surely some of the women behaved themselves when they left the house for three days. And presumably some of the men did, too. They were evidently in the minority. Lupercalia became a time of large, orgiastic parties. But because the event lasted only 72 hours, everyone was mindful that they had to return to their normal lives. For this reason it was common for those in circulation to hide their true identities. They chose to wear costumes and hide behind masks.
The Christian Era.
After 324 AD, when the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire, the church fathers made periodic attempts to rid Rome of the traditions of Lupercalia. Women no longer had to fear loss of wealth and legal personality by being married, and the idea of a three-day invitation to adultery and drunkenness shocked the conscience of the church leaders.
But Lupercalia was not that easy to uproot. So the church did what it had done in other instances: it covered popular pagan occasions with Christian holy days. In the case of Lupercalia, the idea was to have a feast day and celebration in preparation for lent, the penitential season just prior to Easter. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Lent is 40 days long (not counting Sundays). Counting backwards, lent always begins on a Wednesday (called Ash Wednesday because of the imposition of ashes, to commence the fast). It can not come before February 4, and can be no later than March 10. This was a perfect substitution for Lupercalia.
As Christians were supposed to fast for these 40 days in spiritual preparation for Easter, there would be no parties, no weddings, not even baptisms during lent. People would dress plainly. Merriment was considered inappropriate. And the diet turned away from rich foods to plain things. There was no meat, and nothing with fat.
Thus, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday was called "Fat Tuesday" because the household had to use up all the fats and sweets by then. In England they made pancakes. In France, this day was called "Mardi Gras." Its other name was "Carnival" because the pious would have to say goodbye ("vale" in Latin) to meat ("carne"). In many places, Tuesday alone was just not long enough to do all of the partying necessary to make a proper preparation for lent. In imitation of Lupercalia, three days (sometimes five, sometimes more) seemed about right. And the costumes, and the masks and the parades still remain. And the church fathers? They still take a dim view. And the laity rejoice, not so much in preparation for lent anymore, but to get themselves ready for Spring.
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About the Author
Bill Ross writes for Green Crescent Translations, a translation firm that has served international businesses for almost 10 years. Mr. Ross is part of a professional team that translates in over 100 languages, in technical and literary fields. Website localization and subtitles are also supported, as are all major office, DTP and Web formats. To reach him, click this link to Green Crescent's web site: Portuguese Translation and go to the contact page.
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