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Alan’s View

February 2010

ASD Picks: The World’s 3 Best Carnivals

The Egyptians have given travelers three things for which we should be forever grateful: First, one of the greatest excuses to travel, the pyramids; second, the origin of paper, papyrus, so we’re able to write home about the pyramids; and third, if scholars are to be believed, the launching of what have become some of the greatest parties on earth.

Egyptians recorded the first carnival more than 4,000 years ago as five days of “time outside of time,” an annual chronological hiccup and a party that completed their 360-day calendar. The Roman Catholic Church (which gets credit for inventing the name carnival–the Latin roots vale and carne mean “farewell” and “flesh,” respectively) got involved a few thousand years later to call a truce after failing to thwart the ancient pagan festivals, highlighted by masks, costumes, and dance. Co-opting the celebration wasn’t difficult: To anyone living under the restrictive rule of medieval Catholicism, liberating internal repression and sinning boldly was a decent trade-off for having to pray regularly and abstain from eating meat during the 40 days prior to Easter.

The grand, aristocratic masked balls of the French laid the groundwork for today’s carnival traditions, but the mayhem of entrudo, the name given to the festival in Portugal (and used to define the beginning of Lent), still influences many Latin American carnivals. It started with people throwing just about any non-solid substance at each other, and morphed into musical and costumed parades representing various districts or interests.

For African slaves, who were typically given short holiday periods just once a year, carnivals were an ideal forum for their ancient traditions of song, dance, and percussion. The opportunity to parody members of high society no doubt also held special appeal. In the Americas, exuberant African rhythms have dominated the syncretic festival evolution process.

The carnival season can begin as early as the day after Christmas, and peaks over the long weekend (Friday through Tuesday) before Ash Wednesday, which, this year, is February 17th. Carnivals today, more so than virtually any other celebrations, are transformative of both the cities in which they occur and the people who participate. If there ever needed to be a reason to invent the word “fun” it would be to describe the experience of carnival.

1. Trinidad and Tobago Carnival

With its trademark steel-pan, calypso, and soca music and limbo dancing, Trinidad and Tobago’s annual carnival has become a model for celebrations around the world, the best of which take place at different times of the year (so as not to compete?), such as Toronto’s Caribana, Barbados’ Crop Over, Nassau’s Junkanoo and the Notting Hill Carnival in London. Show up Monday at 4am for the J’Ouvert kickoff, where revelers bathed in mud follow their soca trucks, and I promise you one of the peak experiences of your life. Tuesday morning at 8 o’clock the parades begin a 24-hour marathon, with costumes, music, and dancing that will exhilarate and exhaust even the most experienced carnival-goers.

2. New Orleans Mardi Gras

While there are some great Latin-influenced carnivals, most notably Rio’s Carnaval and Köln’s Karneval, the overlay of a certain southern frat-boy exuberance makes New Orleans ground-zero for letting it all hang out. With its glut of beads, bands, booze, brilliant floats, and balls, New Orleans should have exclusive rights to the name Mardi Gras (which means “fat Tuesday”). While both Katrina and the economy have taken a toll on the excesses, the New Orleans Saints’ participation in the Super Bowl (first time ever) has re-energized the city, and Mardi Gras 2010 promises to be one of the all-time best. Win or lose, not only will the Saints have their own parade—they’re still trying to figure out where to fit it in among the parades already scheduled by more than 50 Krewes)—but parade grand marshals for four of the biggies will include quarterback Drew Brees (Bacchus, 2/14), owner Tom Benson (Endymion, 2/13)), coach Sean Payton (Orpheus, 2/15), and former player Ricky Jackson (Zulu, 2/16). With so many Krewes, even the Saint’s water boy is sure to be invited to headline a parade. All of which gives new meaning to “When the Saints Come Marching In.”

3. Venice Carnivale

It’s as if Fellini looked at all the carnivals in the world and said, “no!” Venice is by far the most otherworldly of celebrations, where thousands of the most original and gorgeous costumes are paraded before hundreds of thousands of “extras” scattered about one of the most beautiful and intriguing spots on the planet. If you are new to the game, or don’t have room in your suitcase for an elaborate costume, you can buy masks and rent the full regalia—which you must do if you are going to enjoy the highlight of this event, attending a masked ball in a Venetian palazzo. Major hotels will host events in their ballrooms, but they won’t measure up to Casanova’s Ball (2/12, 2/13) in Palazzo Zenobio, Il Ballo del Doge (2/13), or Mascheranda (2/14) in Palazzo Pisani-Moretta. While these balls are pricey ($400–500 per ticket, plus costume), the costume parades and the experience of just standing in San Marco Square are free, and, as with most carnivals, though festivities begin on February 6, the most memorable occur during the last long weekend before Lent.