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Where
did the word “carnival” come from?
 Hundred
and hundreds of years ago, the followers of the
Catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of
holding a wild costume festival right before the
first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not
supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their
festival, carnevale — which means “to put away the
meat.” As time passed, carnivals in Italy became
quite famous; and in fact the practice spread to
France, Spain, and all the Catholic countries in
Europe. Then as the French, Spanish, and Portuguese
began to take control of the Americas and other
parts of the world, they brought with them their
tradition of celebrating carnival.
At
Carnival time in Venice today; the city literally
crackles with excitement and spontaneous gaiety. But
the atmosphere is quite unlike the gaudy Mari
Gras celebrations of Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans.
Its not that Venetians are necessarily more
restrained than New World revelers, but their
Carnival breathes a sophistication born of long
tradition.
The people of Venice have a strong sense of their
city's history where costumes are designed mainly to
dazzle and delight, but the Venetian insists that a
costume do all this and more. It must also cling
closely to the historic tradition of past costume
characterizations, of which there are many.
By far the
most popular is La Bautta, the domino, for which the
wearer dons a black cape, a white mask and a jaunty
three-cornered black hat. Another favorite costume
is the count or countess of Renaissance times.
Most
common of all, however, are the costumes derived
from the Italian popular theater of the sixteenth
and eighteenth centuries-the comedian dell'arte.
From there comes the clown Harlequin, the dizzy
acrobat with his suit of many colors, and
Punchinello, the aggressive Punch from Punch and
Judy. Equally familiar is Pierrot, the French
the sad white=faced clown in the oversized white
jacket
These
historical characters and many other mingle with
present day Kabuki dancers and extraterrestrial
visitors. Oftentimes, groups of celebrants can be
found wearing the same costume, from the old
tradition of the men's clubs who costumed themselves
and roamed the city as a ban.
Costume Rack Favorites:
Party Ideas
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