Dressing up, wearing masks, parading, dancing, celebrating through the night: these are all elements that quickly come to mind when thinking about carnival. Although the specific traditions vary per region, examples like the parades in Rio, Venetian masks or Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans show that carnival celebrations are easily recognizable as such. Masquerades, processions and all-night parties were also part of several ancient festivals. Like carnival, these were celebrated mainly in winter. It is tempting to find a historical connection between these feasts, but is this justified? What is it with celebrating ‘wild’ feasts in the dark days of winter anyway?
Carnival marks the start of Lent, the 40-day period of fasting before Easter, although this religious meaning has faded into the background in most places. The name is derived from the Latin carnelevarius, a composition of carne (meat) and levare (to remove or take away), which indicates abstinence from both meanings of the word carne: meat to eat and bodies to enjoy. As a last occasion to drink, eat and ‘let loose’ without limitations before the fast, it is understandable that this was a moment people particularly enjoyed and saw as an important marker of time.
This is still the case today, even without the strong connection to fasting and Easter, at least in the places where carnival is popular, since the celebration of the feast is tied to specific areas. In the Netherlands, for example, there is a clear division within the country between regions that participate in the celebrations and those that do not: mainly ‘below the rivers’, but also in other towns where the roots of Catholicism run deeper, carnival is a major event and therefore an important marker of annual rhythms.
It is, however, a curious marker of time, as carnival is a moveable feast through its connection to Easter, which is held at a different date every year. The beginning of the carnival season is fixed, on the other hand, although this date differs per region. In the Netherlands it starts as early as the eleventh of November, whereas in other places the first ceremonies are held in late December or early January. With these early dates in mind, one could say that carnival fills the entire period from Christmas until Lent, resulting in a single long festive period with intermittent feasting. For the festive rhythm of the year the precise end of this period might be less important.
Although the origins of carnival remain obscure, there are many similarities to be found between modern practices and ancient Roman festivals, such as the Bacchanalia and Saturnalia – a fact which has often been pointed out. Besides the above-mentioned processions, a playful atmosphere and social inversion were important elements of these feasts. During the Saturnalia, it is said, masters served their enslaved persons and jesting at the expense of your superiors was allowed without consequences. A contemporary tradition during carnival is the transferal of the key of a city to ‘Prince Carnival’, which goes back to Medieval times, when the poorer population got the chance to rule for a few days. During this period of social inversion, people could criticize the traditional rulers and authorities as well.
Despite these similarities, the historian Max Harris argues against a historical connection between these Roman feasts and the tradition of carnival, emphasizing that ‘resemblance is not the same as historical continuity’ (Harris 2006, 63.) For one, the Bacchanalia and Saturnalia had since long gone extinct when carnival made its first appearance in early twelfth century Rome. There is, however, another Roman winter feast that could more easily fulfill the role of ancient influencer – the Kalends of January or Roman New Year feast. From the long legacy of this festival, and the continued Christian criticism of it as something immoral and pagan, it is known that the Kalends were still celebrated until the twelfth century, in Byzantium at least. Timewise, therefore, a connection between carnival and the Kalends is more likely, as Harris argues as well. The Kalends celebrations of the Roman Republic had little in common with carnival, but the nature of the festival changed in the fourth century, when it increasingly got a reputation for reputation of licentious freedom, masquerades and social inversion. In this period the Roman Empire had become Christian and the revised Kalends festival slowly became a part of the accepted Christian festival calendar, albeit grudgingly. This reluctant acceptance of the Kalends makes the likelihood of the festival influencing carnival even greater.
Another interesting point is that Christmas used to be more similar to carnival than we would expect from our modern traditions. In 1445, complaints were made at the Faculty of Theology in Paris about behavior of clerics during the 12 days of Christmas, where they were participating in masked dances and such. Of course, the Kalends of January were blamed as malevolent pagan influence in this case, while in some other instances the Saturnalia and Bacchanalia were named (Harris 2006, 61-2). Harris argues that this particular aspect of Christmas, probably influenced by the Kalends traditions, was transferred to carnival on the other end of the winter festive season. On a side note, Harris adds that to this day, in places where carnival did not take root such as England, Christmas is still the time for jesting, singing and dressing up (Harris 2006, 104).
To conclude, it is quite possible that the particularly long-lived Kalends festival influenced the Christian carnival festivities. Harris suggests that the masquerading during the Kalends could be a subtle form of Christian resistance to the power of the Church (Harris 2006, 101). Carnival could be seen appropriating this custom as a Christian answer to older feasts, with the possibility to rebel, just a little bit. It appears to be something that belongs to the long season of cold, dark days, when people look forward to the coming of spring. It is no wonder that most winter feasts were festivals of light, centering on the winter solstice, looking forward to lighter days ahead. Easter as a festival of light fits right into this theme, with carnival serving as a bridge between the winter festivities and spring.
Elsa Lucassen
References
Harris, Max. “Claiming pagan origins for carnival: Bacchanalia, Saturnalia, and Kalends.” European Medieval Drama 10 (2006): 57-107.
