A few days after celebrating Carnival in Madrid, and in many parts of the world, we want to tell a little about the origin and history of this colorful party that leads many to dress up and go out into the streets.
With the arrival of February, many stores and venues are filled with all kinds of costumes so that people can choose which one to celebrate these holidays with. However, do you know why we dress up?
Carnivals are known for being an event where all formalities and rules are dropped, and the streets are filled with chaos and fun.
There are sources that place the Origin of Carnivals more than 5,000 years ago, during the Roman Empire, and in some festivities that were celebrated at that time known as “Las Saturnales”, festivities held in honor of the god Saturn. Others place these festivities in ancient Greece, a place where celebrations were also held where Dionysus was venerated.
These parties had something in common, both are celebrated in February, a month that marks the transition between winter and spring and in which purification rites were carried out, since it was said that the god saturn he wandered the earth during the winter and that the rituals were needed to be able to send him back to the underworld and start the harvests.
Due to the above, it is that banquets, dances, dresses and costumes with masks that personified this god were held, the abundances of the earth were celebrated, leaving aside all obligations, to return to order after a few days.
In Greece, these parties had the name of the bacchanalia and the Dionysias, when there were large processions and theatrical performances that brought together the entire city. With the expansion of Christianity In the Middle Ages, the festival adopted the name of Carnival, name that comes from “carnem levare”, which means “remove the meat” This was so because these festivities were celebrated a few days before the Ash Wednesday, the date that begins Lent until reaching Resurrection Sunday.
Lent that implied a period of abstinence and fasting. For this reason, it is that days before the Carnivals were celebrated, a moment in which everything was allowed, and to safeguard anonymity, people covered their faces with masks or went in disguise.
Some of the most famous Carnivals are found in Venice, Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro and Cádiz. In Madrid there will also be celebrations during the weekend, we have a complete post that explains where you can experience the carnival in the capital.
We wish you happy carnival holidays.
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