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Events > Carnival Celebrations WorldwideCanada
Caribbean Carnival Caribana - Carnival in 'Yuh' backyard Toronto, Canada Celebrates its 43 rd
anniversary in 2010. It's the largest Caribbean festival in North America.
Click here to see an 'Explosion of Caribbean music, Cuisine, revelry as well as visual and
performing arts'.
The Quebec City Winter Carnival is the biggest winter-themed carnival in the world. The habitants of New France participate in this lively tradition of getting together just before Lent to eat, drink and be merry; this tradition has been in place since the beginning of the French colony. In 1954, Bonhomme was born and elected the event's representative. In 2010, from
January 29th to February 14th, the Quebec Winter Carnival's programming will be an inspirational experience. Go see the most beautiful masquerade ever - Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler.
The biggest party on earth South American style. See video here. Book your next winter vacation in time to experience this true extravaganza, youthful exuberance, warmth, & hospitality. Another video to entice you. You'll be sure to find a flight to Brazil through our travel partners, as well as accommodations, tours, etc. See Orbitz, Kayak or go to our home page for many others. Trinidad
To participate in Trinidad's 2010 Carnival in a popular band named Harts Click here.
Spain
When Lent ends, the Saturday following Holy Week is celebrated in a festival in Murcia, Spain. Called the Sardine's Funeral Parade it marks the end of the period
when it is mandatory to eat fish and vegetables only.
England
In England Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day, but apart from the serving of pancakes and occasional pancake races, and football matches, little else of
Carnival survived the Reformation. Caribbean influence has led to the establishment of several "West Indian" carnivals, but these are not held in Carnival season. The
leading festivities are Notting Hill Carnival in August (reputedly the world's largest), Notting
Hill Carnival and Bridgwater in November.
Poland
In Poland the traditional way of celebrating the Carnival is kulig, a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the snow-covered countryside. The Polish Carnival Season includes
the Fat Thursday - a day for eating paczki - and Sledziówka (Shrove Tuesday), or Herring Day (herring is a traditional Polish appetizer for drinking vodka).
Germany
German Carnival parades are held on Rosenmontag (Rose
Monday), the day before Shrove Tuesday. German Carnival parades are held on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the day before Shrove Tuesday. Cologne, Germany
is famous for a colourful, joyous celebration, that annually attracts around one million visitors into the city. Three Mad Days are the end and climax of Cologne Carnival.
See about 130 bands, hundreds of horses, brightly clad groups - all passing through streets packed tightly with tens of thousands of people cheering. You can't
miss out on this excitement. Cologne Carnival
Italy
For a totally different Carnival experience with elegant costumes, mask parade, amazing fireworks, engaging music, enjoy a Venetian Carnival in Europe. See video footage here and start planning your trip there through our portal.
Around the world
For carnivals worldwide, check the FECC, (Federation European Carnival Cities) database, the world's largest, most diverse body dedicated to the promotion and preservation of people's festivals and parades with over 500 members and organizations representing 100 Cities in 52 countries. Check here for another web guide to global carnival celebrations.
The meaning of Carnival
A carnival parade is a
public celebration, combining some elements of a circus and public street party, generally during the Carnival Season.
Some places are especially known for fantastic Carnival celebrations such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife, and Olinda
in Brazil, Toronto and Quebec City in Canada, Venice in Italy, Nice in France, New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama in the USA, Trinidad in the West Indies, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Cadiz in Spain.
Carnival is a yearly event in Mexico celebrated with gusto each February. In Germany Cologne, Duesseldorf, and Munich are famous for their Carnival celebrations,
parades and costumed balls which, particularly in southern Germany, are called Fasching. Carnival is also celebrated in the southern Catholic provinces of the
Netherlands - Noord-Brabant, and Limburg as well as in neighboring Belgium, England, and Poland which have their own unique experiences with Carnival.
Passionate, exuberant Rio comes alive when Carnival begins. As the temperature heats up,
so do days of seemingly endless parades, balls and parties in Cidade Maravilhosa, or the 'Marvelous City,' as Rio is sometimes called. More on Carnival in Brazil. For a history of Carnival in Brazil Click Here. Celebrate Carnival in San Francisco.
The Origins of Carnival
The origins of carnival date back to
the ancient Greek spring festival in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine. Click
here to read and see two thousand years of carnival celebrations dating back to the ancient Greeks & Romans. The Romans adopted the celebration with
Bacchanalia (feasts in honor of Bacchus, the Roman equivalent to Dionysus), and Saturnalia, where slaves and their masters would exchange clothes in a day of
drunken revelry. Saturnalia was later modified by the Roman Catholic Church into a festival leading up Ash Wednesday. It quickly evolved into a massive celebration of
indulgences - one last gasp of music, food, alcohol, and sex before Lent - the 40 days of personal reflection, abstinence, and fasting until Easter (not exactly
what the Church probably had in mind). 40 days of purging sins, preceded by a week filled with virtually every known sin. The word itself comes from Latin, 'Carne
Vale' or 'Farewell to the Flesh'. (Source Wikipedia.org)
The Carnival Season
The Carnival Season refers to a specific holiday period covering the two weeks before the traditional Christian fast of Lent. Most
commonly the season began on Septuagesima Sunday, the third from the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, but in some places it started as early as Twelveth
night, continuing until Lent. This period of celebration and partying had its origin in the need to use up all remaining meat and animal products such as eggs and butter
before the fasting season. The celebration of Carnival ends on 'Mardi Gras' (French for 'Fat Tuesday', meaning Shrove Tuesday), the day before
Ash Wednesday, when the rigours of Lent's 40 days of fasting and sacrifice begin. It sometimes lasts until Pińata Weekend, the first Saturday and Sunday of Lent. More on carnivals around the world.
(Source Wikipedia.org)
Dance to the music of drums, steel pans and the
Samba. Experience Carnival like never before! Enjoy the Carnival experience of three countries-Guyana, Trinidad and Brazil. Each has a similar style but with different
people and different music. Dance all day. Stay out all night... Guyana - is not quite Caribbean, and not quite South American. Guyana is the Caribbean because of its
historical past, its quaint colonial architecture and friendly people. It is South American geographically and anthropologically, with land areas that would swallow most of
the rest of the Caribbean combined.
Guyana is Eco Tourism country. Here jaguars roam, huge rivers are the major
highways to the interior, indigenous Amerindians can be found leading traditional lifestyles, the waterfalls dwarf even the tallest buildings and Indiana Jones would be
right at home searching for El Dorado, Sir Walter Raleigh's fabled City of Gold. This is Guyana… Trinidad is the true home of Carnival. When you dream of
Carnival dream of Trinidad, dream of 'Steel Pan & Drums', dream of 'Rhythm and Enchantment...' Brazil - the mother of all Carnivals...
Madness is in the air in Manaus. For seven days everything stops as beautiful bodies gyrate to the samba music of the Brazilian drums. Travel with our Portal and get
the adventure you've never had before! Book your travel through us and we pay part of your carbon offset.
We hope you've enjoyed the music, dance & celebrations on this web page and could now imagine yourself in an exotic destination where you could explore other cultures, meet new people and celebrate life while on your vacation.