Unmasking a time-honored tradition

Only at Carnival can you pick up an anthill out of the dirt,
fling it onto a stranger, and not get beaten up, or wear a bright,
beaded hat bigger than a small child.

Schools and businesses even close down so that everyone can go
out and party at this Pre-Lenten festival, originating from the
Latin term “carnem-levare,” which means to remove
oneself from flesh or meat. Italians later shortened the term to
“carnevale” or “flesh festival.”

Carnival is better known today as the famous party that takes
place right before Catholics give up various indulgences for Lent
and have to stay on track until Easter. Carnival is the excuse many
people all over the world use for going wild and crazy before life
inevitably becomes serious again.

“People are out doing things they normally wouldn’t
do and everyone sort of expects it. It’s good to have things
that are really crazy so when it ends, you can go back to
normal,” said Barbara Mauldin, curator of the
“¡Carnaval!” exhibit opening at the Fowler Museum
of Cultural History on Nov. 6. The exhibit uses the Spanish
spelling of “Carnival” to emphasize the
festival’s multicultural angle, featuring the celebratory
customs of eight different geographical locations around the world.
As the festival spread throughout the world, each culture put its
own spin on Carnival and the Catholic origins often became
sidelined. Some Carnival celebrations last into the start of Lent
““ sometimes done as a statement, other times just because of
delays in the festival itself.

“Priests don’t like Carnival for the most
part,” Mauldin said. “It distracts from the religious
significance of Lent. The Carnival time becomes less of a time to
prepare for Lent and more just a designated time to
party.”

But in Oruro, Bolivia, a small mining town in the Andes
Mountains, the Catholic Church has held on to Carnival tradition
and named the Virgin Mary as the patron of Carnival. Mauldin
explained that the people of Oruro make a promise to dance for her
as a sort of tribute.

“At the end of the procession route, they go to her church
and they crawl up the aisle on their knees, and then they go
through this mass, and then they all go get drunk
afterwards,” Mauldin said.

While Oruro retains Catholic traditions, others use the freedom
of carnival to express opinions on current secular issues, though
while still sporting elaborate costumes and enormous hats. In
Basel, Switzerland, in 2001, Carnival-goers poked fun at a United
States Agricultural Department attempt to regulate the size of
holes in imported Swiss cheese. Mauldin said people dressed up as
mice and as Uncle Sam and danced around as cheese inspectors.

Carnival originated in Europe and then spread throughout the
world via colonization. Mauldin said that the European origins of
this huge dance party still surprise people.

“For our audience, it is sort of surprising, you know,
that white boys can dance, too,” Mauldin said.

And Carnival is not necessarily always synonymous with
profligacy.

“Haiti is so poor financially, you don’t get the
kind of extravagance that you get in New Orleans,” world arts
and culture Professor Donald Cosentino said. “Yet Carnival is
not less significant to the people for being on a smaller
scale.”

There are eight different sections of the museum exhibition,
each one filled with costumes from a different city across Europe,
Latin America, or in New Orleans. Background videos and music will
enhance the experience of seeing the costumes in the carnival
setting. The exhibit is designed with a winding path so people can
view costumes as if they were part of a conga-line. Mauldin hopes
it brings a level of authenticity, as people will have to dance
quickly past the costumes like they would if they were actually
there.

These elaborate costumes of Carnival are usually worn just once.
As soon as Carnival ends, craftsmen start planning designs for the
next year’s parades.

“To really show off, you want to make a new
costume,” said Mauldin, on the reason some festivalgoers shun
reusing the elaborate outfits.

Curiously, few cities in America celebrate Carnival. Cosentino
explained that the reason so few cities in America produce lavish
carnival celebrations today is because there is no history for
doing so.

“It’s a tradition thing. It’s hard to start a
Carnival if it doesn’t have roots,” Cosentino said.
“It has to start out with some historical link that takes on
a life of its own.”

Cosentino also said that a city needs a strong musical
tradition, independent of the Carnival season, in order to get a
good Carnival going. The most famous carnival in America is Mardi
Gras (Fat Tuesday) in New Orleans, a city famous for jazz and Cajun
music. Another good example is Brazilian cities, as the country has
a strong association with its samba.

“(The samba) is the dance of Carnival but it’s also
a popular dance,” Cosentino said. “A city has to have
the predisposition to music and dance (in order to host a good
Carnival).”

Mobile, Ala., has a Carnival celebration, though a slightly
tamer version than Mardi Gras ““ the tradition of lifting
shirts for beads seems to have stayed in Louisiana. French settlers
are credited with instigating the carnivals in Alabama and
Louisiana.

The segregation of New Orleans into ethnic and economic
neighborhoods is forgotten as everyone dances in the streets and
takes turns putting on parades. Like most locations covered in the
exhibit, the New Orleans government is supportive of the festival
that brings the population together and gets tourists into the town
in the middle of winter.

“The police are there to protect the partying, to keep
parade routes open. They want to be helpful,” Mauldin
said.

Tourists have varying degrees of participation in each
city’s celebration. In Oruro, Bolivia, a visitor would be
more of an observer of the intricate dances honoring the Virgin
Mary, while in Trinidad and Tobago, Mauldin was able to join in on
the dancing, which she said gets exhausting after a short time.

“You have to go to the beach and lie down for a few days
afterwards,” Mauldin said.

Many are curious to see what New Orleans will be like when
King’s Day, Jan. 6, rolls around. As the official start of
Mardi Gras, people will be looking to see how the city will
celebrate with most of its downtown in ruins after the
hurricane.

“In New Orleans, they actually observe Lent,”
Mauldin said. “Mardi Gras is a very important part of
people’s lives. Police come in on horseback to clear out the
streets on Ash Wednesday, and people go to mass. Tourists are still
there after Lent begins, but the party is over,” Mauldin
said.

The “¡Carnaval!” exhibit will travel to New
Orleans in time for the 2007 Mardi Gras. Mauldin is optimistic
about Carnival’s power to bring communities together and she
believes New Orleans will rise from the floods and put on a
fabulous Mardi Gras.

“(Mardi Gras) is going to be what brings people
back,” Mauldin said.

No matter where it is celebrated, Carnival gives its
participants a much-needed break from the hard labor that dominates
much of their lives.

“Having fun is matter of life and death. But fun is not a
strong enough word,” Cosentino said. “They have revenge
for the rest of the year. For three days of the year the streets
belong to the people that are otherwise marginalized. It’s
their way to grab heaven. It’s definitely much more than a
party. It’s a huge release of energy and of
humanity.”

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