Carnivals, origin and meaning

Carnivals were born in Christian countries and were celebrated on Tuesday, the last day of great Lent. During Tuesday it was traditional to celebrate and eat in abundance, since the next day would be Holy Wednesday which marked the beginning of Lent, a period during which you had to fast.

Precisely for this reason, the word "Carnevale" means "evitare la carne" (to avoid eating meat), comes from the Latin: carnes levare.

In addition, in ancient times carnivals represented reawakening after the winter season, vitality, and were seen as a chance to ward off evil through the happiness of the moment with parties, jokes and dancing.

This term began to be used in the 13th century only in some Italian cities and slowly spread throughout the Christian world of the time. Europe later decided to add Carnival to the Catholic calendar as a real holiday.

Carnivals have never had an exact and fixed date, as they always depended on the date of Easter of the previous year. /bota.al/