Some more Carnival shots and....

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

....then I will stop to boring you with carnival Very Happy

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2/ Very Elegant Laughing

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15/ Typical Dutch Very Happy

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The End

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Thanks for looking!

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Nice completion! You have some great street portraits here. Love the ladies in #10 #11. Smile

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

Thanks Orio.....I was sure that you wil appreciate the #10 Rolling Eyes

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And an other one special dedicated for you because I know you like nice ladies:

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

Thanks "excalibur" Very Happy

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and to answer your question, the origine of the Carnival is Catholic but for most of the peoples (included myself Very Happy

), it's above that a good reason to have fun with family and friends, see also this link: http://translate.google.nl/translate?hl=nl&sl=en&tl=nl&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holland.com%2Fglobal%2Factivities%2Fevents%2Fmarch2011%2Fcarnival.jsp&anno=2

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Actually, the origin of the Carnival is much older than Catholic.

In ancient Babylon, Greece, and Rome, there was the institutionalization of what became today's Carnival. Carnival was born as a rite of passage. Ancient societies had their social life organized around a series of personal moments of passage: the birth, the puberty, the marriage, the death. Each of these passages had it's rites. Some of these rites of passage remain today (what is a funeral after all?). We maybe lost some (puberty is not anymore celebrated in most western cultures), but we got new ones, like the celebration for the university degree.

But there were also collective rites of passage. They were related to the myth of the Eternal Return, and linked to the times of the seasons.
In Babylon, at the Spring Equinox, there was the theatrical representation of the birth of the Universe, with the fight between the god and the drake.
In ancient Greece there were the Antesteries: there was the procession of a chariot that had to restore the Cosmos after the return to the primordial Chaos.
In ancient Rome, there were the Saturnalia, celebrations made at the end of the Winter, to calm down the gods Saturn and Pluto, who were believed to surface to the Earth during the Winter, bringing cold, death and desolation. The offers to them made in the Saturnalia were to convince them to return to the underground and allow the world to renew and the Age of Gold to come back again.
During the Saturnalia, the social classes were turned upside down, the slaves could pretend to be free men and they would elect a Princeps for all the duration of the Saturnalia.
But in all European cultures, the period of the end of the Winter was considered a period of purification, with offers, sacrifices, and rites, like that of burning the wood of the winter.

So as you can see, we already had all the elements of today's Carnevale: we had the chariot in parade, we had the costumes and the plays, we had social "revolutionary" concept and the possibility to mock the powers that be without being punished, we had the prince of the Carnival (today it's often a queen) and we had the ritual burning (in the traditional carnivals in Italy at the end of the carnival a bunch of straw and dry twigs -called paglione- is still burned today)

And the above also explains why the carnival happens in this time of the year: it's not a strange thing, it's the proper time of the year, the end of the Winter and the coming of Spring. The carnival is the rite of passage that celebrates the passage from the Winter to the Spring.

With the Christian religion, the Carnival time was linked to the time of Easter: for this reason, it's not celebrated anymore at the Spring Equinox, but it's celebrated 40 days before Easter, and since Easter time shifts, so now does the Carnival.
But it's worth to mention that neither celebrations (neither Carnival nor the Easter) are Christian in origin. The Christian religion did just "steal" them and adapted them to it's liturgy. Which shows how strong the ancestral popular beliefs and rites were: Christianity was not able to defeat them, it could not make people stop celebrating them. So it had to adapt to them. The only real thing that Christianity added was the name: Carnevale is Latin "carne vale" (goodbye flesh), because at the end it start the period of penitence, the Lent, during which if you are a proper Christian you are not supposed to eat meat.

Fascinating story, eh? Smile

The world of today has this big shortcoming: it tends to ignore the traditions as something old and which has to be overcome for the sake of progress. This is the mentality of today. So it's not surprising that to many persons today the Carnival looks just like another costume party.
But it's not. It's one of the most ancient rites surviving today. Probably the most ancient of all. Much, much more ancient than Christian Mass. The carnival has got holiness, and has roots in the dawn of man. Just think of Stonehenge: a big temple, erected with accurate precision following the course of the Sun. We don't know much about those times, but one thing is sure, they celebrated all the Sun's passages with rites. Why else build a temple?

Oh by the way... HAPPY MARDI GRAS EVERYBODY! Very Happy

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Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

Orio, you are a real encyclopaedia Shocked

....Thanks a lot for this fascinating story about the carnival, I have learn something today Very Happy

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@ Excalibur: that's a sad story Sad

! I must say that here peoples (and especially the young peoples/teenagers) drinks probably too much alcohol during the carnival! That's for sure a mint punt but except that fact, I must say that it's stay a great and convivial celebration, at least as a spectator and to take some colourful pictures as well Rolling Eyes

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Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Here's it's only a moment of joy and a feast for the families, where everybody takes part, the children and the old ones as well.
I don't remember a single episode of violence or vandalism to have happened, ever.
In the show there are organized sets of people who build the chariots and prepare choreographies (all for free), but the public is not a spectator.
Everybody takes part, the casual people always mixes in with the organized groups, and in the end of the day the different groups mix and everybody dances and make jokes together.
I don't know of any other public event here that mixes different generations and can create a common feeling, more than this.
Everybody is always welcome and people is friendly and smiles at you even if you are perfect strangers. There is really a hearty feeling.
I love this very much, I don't know if this shows from my photos but I hope so.
I really love these days and when they are over, this always makes me sad. It makes me sad to think that I have to wait another year for it to happen again.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

Like opening an issue of National Geographic, superb work, Orio!

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

danikatia · Expire: 2013-10-26

Cute photos! Very Happy

Beautiful portraits, but I also like # 6 and # 12 for the 3D look.....

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27