Mardi Gras
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)(Shrove Tuesday) | |
 Costumed musicians, French Quarter, New Orleans |
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| Official name | Mardi Gras (French: "Fat Tuesday") |
|---|---|
| Also called | Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day, Dollar day |
| Type | Local, cultural, Catholic |
| Significance | Celebration prior to fasting season of Lent. |
| Date | Day before Ash Wednesday |
| 2008 date | February 5 |
| 2009 date | February 24 |
| 2010 date | February 16 |
| Celebrations | Parades, parties |
| Related to | Carnival |
"Mardi Gras" (French for Fat Tuesday) is the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is the final day of Carnival, the three-day period preceding the beginning of Lent, the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday immediately before Ash Wednesday (some traditions count Carnival as the entire period of time between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday).[1] The entire three-day period has come to be known in many areas as Mardi Gras.[2] Perhaps the cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Many other places have important Mardi Gras celebrations as well. Carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, except in Ireland and the United Kingdom where the festival is called Shrove Tuesday and pancakes are the tradition, and also in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.
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[edit] Belgium
In the Belgian city of Binche the "Mardi Gras" is the most important day of the year and the summit of the Carnival of Binche. Around 1000 Gilles can be found dancing throughout the city from in the morning until well past dark whilst traditional carnival songs play. In 2003, the Carnival of Binche was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
[edit] Brazil
In Brazil, the Carnival celebrations in Recife, Salvador are well-known with the most notable being that one held in Rio de Janeiro. The celebrations of Carnival end on Mardi Gras. Thousands of people from across Brazil and also from other parts of the world come to attend the festivities.
[edit] Recife
Recife is home to several noted Carnival celebrations. One famous event is the "Noite dos Tambores Silenciosos". Recife's Carnival is nationally known and attracts thousands of people every year. The party starts a week before the official date, with electric trios "shaking" the Boa Viagem district. On Friday, people take to the streets to enjoy themselves to the sound of frevo and to dance with maracatu, ciranda, caboclinhos, afoxé, reggae and manguebeat (cultural movement created in Recife during the 90s) groups. There are still many other entertainment poles spread out around the city, featuring local and national artists. One of the highlights is Saturday when more than one million people follow the Galo da Madrugada group. From Sunday to Monday, there is the Night of the Silent Drums, on the Pátio do Terço, where Maracatus honor slaves that died in prisons and jails too!
[edit] Rio de Janeiro
The Carnival is an annual celebration in Brazil held 40 days before Easter and marks the beginning of Lent. Rio de Janeiro has many Carnival choices, including the famous Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) parades in the sambódromo exhibition centre and the popular 'blocos de carnaval', which parade in almost every corner of the city. The most famous parades are the Cordão do Bola Preta with traditional carnaval parades in the centre of the city, the Suvaco do Cristo parades in the Botanic Garden, Carmelitas parades in the hills of Santa Teresa, the Simpatia é Quase Amor is one of the most popular parades in Ipanema, and the Banda de Ipanema which attracts a wide range of revelers, including families and a wide spectrum of the gay population (notably spectacular drag queens).
[edit] Salvador
According to the Guinness Book, the carnival or Carnaval of Salvador de Bahia is the biggest street party on the planet. For an entire week, almost two million people join the city's street celebrations, which are divided into circuits: Barra/Ondina, Campo Grande and Pelourinho. The music played during Carnaval includes Axé and Samba-reggae. Many "blocos" participate in Carnaval, the "blocos afros" like Malé Debalé, Olodum and Filhos de Gandhi being the most famous of them.
[edit] Caribbean nations
In the Caribbean, Carnival is celebrated on a number of islands: Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curaçao, Dominica,Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago and United States Virgin Islands are some of the celebrants.
[edit] Colombia
Several Colombian cities celebrate carnivals in the period between Twelfth Night and Mardi Gras. The most important of these celebrations is Barranquilla's Carnival (Spanish: Carnaval de Barranquilla), which starts on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday and ends on Mardi Gras. The roots of Barranquilla's Carnival date back to the 19th century, and is reputed for being second in size to Rio's, but is far less commercialized. The Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed by UNESCO, in November 2003, as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
[edit] France
The city of Nice, France records that in the year of 1294, the Comte de Provence Charles II, Duc d’Anjou began taking his holidays in Nice to take part in the festivities of Carnival complete with balls, masquerades, bonfires, jugglers, mimes, and more. All that was required to take part was a costume and a mask. So much revelery was had that even the church could not control the more obscene aspects. The city's records, however, show that the celebration hit a high note in the period of time they call the Belle Époque, in the late 19th century to early 20th century before the World Wars. The city of Nice still celebrates Mardi Gras with parades of flower covered floats and brilliant night-time light displays.[3]
[edit] Germany
The celebration of Mardi Gras in Germany is called Karneval, Fastnacht, or Fasching.[4] Fastnacht means "Eve of the Beginning of the Fast", and thus it is celebrated until the day before Ash Wednesday. The most famous parades are held in Düsseldorf, Köln (Cologne), and Mainz on Monday before Ash Wednesday on "Rosenmontag" i.e. Lundi Gras.
[edit] Guatemala
The main celebration of Mardi Gras in Guatemala is in Mazatenango. Also, there are a lot of mimes.
[edit] India
In Goa, India, the Carnival is celebrated for three days culminating on Fat Tuesday. Goa was a Portuguese colony until 1961. In Kerala State the carnival parade is called "Rasa" (fun in Sanskrit) and happens on the night before Ash Wednesday. There are typically no masks in the celebration, unlike in Goa.
[edit] Italy
[edit] Venice
Venice is home to one of the most famous Carnival celebrations in the world, in addition to one of the oldest. The Carnival of Venice (or Carnevale di Venezia in Italian) was first recorded in 1268. The subversive nature of the festival is reflected in the many laws created over the centuries in Italy attempting to restrict celebrations and often banning the wearing of masks. Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival, traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, at the start of the Carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday. As masks were also allowed during Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise [1]. Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild. In 1797 Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Austrians took control of the city on January 18, 1798 and it fell into a decline which also effectively brought Carnival celebrations to a halt for almost two centuries. Carnival was outlawed by the fascist government in the 1930s. It was not until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1980s that Carnival enjoyed a revival.[5]
[edit] Mexico
In Mexico, there are big Carnival celebrations every year in Mazatlán, which has "The third largest Mardi Gras in the world", and Veracruz, which include the election of a queen and street parades. There is also a week-long Carnival or Mardi Gras celebration in Mérida, Yucatán. Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, Chiapas also holds a Carnival with a mix of Christian and indigenous elements.
[edit] Panama
Carnival is celebrated in several Panamanian cities such as Las Tablas, Ocu, Chitre, Penenomé and Panama City. Carnival in this country is characterized by the soaking of people mainly via the use of water trucks and hoses. The celebrations tend to last through a four day holiday weekend.
[edit] Slovenia
In Slovenia it is called Kurentovanje. It's from the word Kurent which is the name of a mask, made of sheep skin and richly decorated. People make noise with bells attached on their hips. It's also one of the traditions to eat doughnuts.
[edit] Spain
In Spain it's called 'Carnaval'. The Carnival in Chipiona Carnaval in Chipiona is without doubt the festival that represents the Spanish town the most. It's celebrated in the month of February and coincides with the date of the festival held in the capital of the province, Cádiz. Even though it's official duration is just 10 days, for at least a month before, there are activities which are always held in the peñas and by various organizations.
[edit] Sweden
In Sweden the celebration is called Fettisdagen. It comes from the word "fett" (fat) and "tisdag" (Tuesday). Originally, this was the only day one should eat "Semlor" (Semla) (fat Tuesday buns), but these are now found in most grocery stores and bakeries preceding the holiday, and up until Easter
[edit] United States
While not observed nationally throughout the United States, a number of cities and regions in the country have notable celebrations. Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a sedate French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers,[6] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiane, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.[6]
The expedition, led by Iberville, entered the mouth of the Mississippi River on the evening of March 2, 1699, Lundi Gras, not yet knowing it was the river explored and claimed for France by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1683. The party proceeded upstream to a place on the west bank about 60 miles downriver from where New Orleans is today, where a small tributary emptied into the great river, and made camp. This was on March 3, 1699, Mardi Gras day, so in honor of this holiday, Iberville named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (French: "Mardi Gras Point") and called the small tributary Bayou Mardi Gras.enlou. Bienville went on to found the settlement of Mobile, Alabama in 1702 as the first capital of French Louisiana,[7] and in 1703 the Mardi Gras tradition began with celebrations by the French settlers in that city.[6][8][9] By 1720, Biloxi had been made capital of Louisiana. The French customs were introduced there at that time.[6] In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans, founded in 1718.[7] The tradition there expanded to the point that it became synonymous with that city.[6] In more recent times several other U.S. cities without a French Catholic heritage have instituted the celebration of Mardi Gras.
[edit] References
- ^ ""Mardi Gras Terminology"". "Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau". Retrieved on 2007-11-18.
- ^ The Season of Lent
- ^ Histoire et tradition - Carnaval
- ^ http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/karneval.htm
- ^ Venice Carnival / Carnevale of Venice 2008
- ^ a b c d e "New Orleans & Mardi Gras History Timeline" (event list), Mardi Gras Digest, 2005, webpage: MG-time.
- ^ a b "Timeline 18th Century:" (events), Timelines of History, 2007, webpage: TLine-1700-1724: on "1702-1711" of Mobile.
- ^ "Mardi Gras in Mobile" (history), Jeff Sessions, Senator, Library of Congress, 2006, webpage: LibCongress-2665.
- ^ "Mardi Gras" (history), Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2007, webpage: MGmobile.
[edit] External links
- Mardi Gras - Myth & History
- Traditional Cajun Mardi Gras Celebrations
- Mardi Gras in Mobile, Encyclopedia of Alabama
- Mardi Gras in New Orleans
- Baton Rouge Mardi Gras Parade Schedules and Routes
- Prof. Carl Nivale's Compleat Carnival Compendium and Mardi Gras Manual
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