MARDI GRAS aka Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Carnival

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                                                     M A R D I   G R A S






Official name

Mardi Gras
(French: "Fat Tuesday")



Also called

Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day, Dollar day, Carnival



Type

Local, cultural, Catholic



Significance

Celebration prior to fasting season of Lent.
Date Day before Ash Wednesday



2008 date February 5

2009 date February 24

2010 date February 16



Celebrations

Parades, parties
Related to Carnival

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The terms "Mardi Gras" (mär`dē grä) and "Mardi Gras season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, ending on the day before Ash Wednesday. From the French term "Mardi Gras" (literally "Fat Tuesday"), the term has come to mean the whole period of activity related to those events, beyond just the single day, often called Mardi Gras Day or Fat Tuesday.

The season can be designated by the year, as in "Mardi Gras 2008".

The time period varies from city to city, as some traditions consider Mardi Gras as the Carnival period between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday.  Others treat the final three-day period as being Mardi Gras.

In Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras events begin in November, followed by mystic society balls on Thanksgiving, then New Year's Eve, formerly with parades on New Year's Day, followed by parades and balls in January & February, celebrating up to midnight before Ash Wednesday.

Other cities most famous for their Mardi Gras celebrations include Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Many other places have important Mardi Gras celebrations as well.

Carnival is an important celebration in most of Europe, except in Ireland and the United Kingdom where the festival is called "shrovetide" ending on Shrove Tuesday, and pancakes are the tradition, and also in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Mangueira Samba School parades in Rio de Janeiro









Rio de Janeiro



Rio de Janeiro has many Carnival choices, including the famous Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) parades in the sambódromo exhibition centre and the popular 'blocos de carnaval', which parade in
almost every corner of the city.

The most famous parades are the Cordão do Bola Preta with traditional carnaval parades in the centre
of the city, the Suvaco do Cristo parades in the Botanic Garden, Carmelitas parades in the hills of Santa Teresa, the Simpatia é Quase Amor is one of the most popular parades in Ipanema, and the Banda de Ipanema which attracts a wide range of revelers, including families and a wide spectrum of the gay population (notably spectacular drag queens).





CARNIVAL IN RIO AND LATIN AMERICA 2009 - IN PICTURES


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                                        N E W   O R L E A N S  -  U N I T E D   S T A T E S






 
New Orleans' Mardi Gras celebration draws hundreds of thousands of tourists to the city to celebrate with the locals at the famed parties and parades. As many as a half-million spectators have been estimated by officials to line the route of the major parades on days marked by comfortable weather.

The first Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans were held on March 3, 1748. On that day, a group of French explorers set up camp on the west bank of the Mississippi River, about 60 miles downriver from the current site of New Orleans.

The group's leader, Pierre Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville dubbed the spot La Pointe du Mardi Gras.


The Rex organization put a marker at the Louisiana site 300 years later. 

An account from 1743 notes that the custom of holding Carnival balls was established by that date (during the
time Bienville was governor). On Mardi Gras, there were masques and processions in the streets of the city, although they were, at times, prohibited by law.

The celebrations were quickly resumed whenever restrictions were lifted or the enforcement of them was lax.

In 1833, Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville, a rich plantation owner, raised the money to fund an official Mardi Gras celebration.

On Mardi Gras of 1857 the Mistick Krewe of Comus held its first parade. Comus is the oldest continuously active Mardi Gras organization and originated a number of traditions that continue today (such as the use of floats in parades) and is considered the first Carnival krewe in the modern sense of the term.

In 1875 Mardi Gras was declared a legal holiday by the state of Louisiana.

Economic, political, and weather conditions sometimes led to the cancellation of some or all of the major parades, especially during the American Civil War, World War I and World War II, but the celebration of Carnival has always been observed in the city in some way.

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Float-making in New Orleans



The last large parades went through the narrow streets of the city's old French Quarter neighborhood in 1972; Larger floats and crowds and safety concerns led the city government to prohibit big parades in the Quarter. In 1991, the New Orleans city council passed an ordinance that required social organizations, including Mardi Gras Krewes, to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licenses.  The ordinance required these and other private social groups to abandon their traditional code of secrecy and identify their members for the city's Human Relations Commission.

In protest, the 19th century krewes Comus and Momus stopped parading.  Proteus did parade in the 1992 Carnival season, but then suspended its parade until 2000 when they returned to the parade schedule.

Two federal courts later declared that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association, and an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy of the groups subject
to the ordinance. The Supreme Court refused to hear the city's appeal of their decision. Today, many krewes operate under a business structure - membership is basically open to anyone who pays dues to have a place on a parade float.

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Mardi Gras After Katrina



The effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in late 2005 caused many to question the future of the city's Mardi Gras celebrations.

The city government, essentially bankrupt after the storm, pushed for a massively scaled back celebration to limit strains on city services. However, many krewes insisted that they wanted to and would be ready to parade, so negotiations between krewe leaders and city officials resulted in a compromise schedule, scaled back but less severely than originally suggested.

The 2006 New Orleans' Carnival schedule included the Krewe du Vieux on its traditional route through Marigny and the French Quarter on February 11, the Saturday two weekends before Mardi Gras, then several parades on Saturday, the 18th, and Sunday the 19th, a week before Mardi Gras, followed by six days of parades starting Thursday night, the 23rd, until Mardi Gras Day, the 28th.

Other than Krewe du Vieux and two Westbank parades that went through Algiers, all New Orleans parades were restricted to the Saint Charles Avenue Uptown to Canal Street route, a section of the city which escaped significant flooding (some krewes unsuccessfully pushed to parade on their traditional Mid City route, despite the severe flood damage suffered by the neighborhood).

Restrictions were placed on the amount of time parades could be on the street and how late they could go. Louisiana State troopers and National Guard assisted with crowd control for the first time since 1979.

Many of the floats had been partially submerged in the floodwaters for weeks. While some krewes repaired and removed all traces of these effects, others incorporated flood lines and other damage into the designs of the floats. Most of the locals who worked on the floats and rode on them were significantly impacted by the storm, and many had lost most or all of their possessions, but their enthusiasm for Carnival was even more intense than usual and celebrated as an affirmation of life.

The themes of many costumes and floats had more barbed satire than usual, with commentary on the trials and tribulations of living in the devastated city, with references to MREs, Katrina refrigerators and FEMA trailers, along with much mocking of FEMA, local, and national politicians.

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                                                I L   C A R N E V A L E   D I   V E N E Z I A






VENICE,
Italy



Carnival of Venice
 
Venice is home to one of the most famous Carnival celebrations in the world, in addition to one of the oldest.

The Carnival of Venice (or Carnevale di Venezia in Italian) was first recorded in 1268.

The subversive nature of the festival is reflected in the many laws created over the centuries in Italy attempting to restrict celebrations and often banning the wearing of masks.



               



Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival, traditionally people were allowed
to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, at the start of the Carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday. As masks were also allowed during Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise.

Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild.

In 1797 Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Austrians took control of the city on January 18, 1798 and it fell into
a decline which also effectively brought Carnival celebrations to a halt for almost two centuries.

Carnival was outlawed by the fascist government in the 1930s.

It was not until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1980s that Carnival enjoyed a revival.



PICTURES HERE

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                                             Soul of Rio's Carnival in informal street parties
         





Bradley Brooks,
Associated Press Writer
–Feb. 21, 2009



Play Video AP  – Raw Video: Carnival kicks-off in Brazil


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090221/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_soul_of_carnival;_ylt=Aj1odGAxFfInXfgB8ZvKFGas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJsN2ZwbTRwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwMjIxL2x0X2JyYXppbF9zb3VsX29mX2Nhcm5pdmFsBHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNzb3Vsb2ZyaW9zY2E-
 AP –
… RIO DE JANEIRO

– On a street in Rio's Ipanema beach neighborhood, Juju Maravilha, dressed in a sultry gold and green sequined gown topped off by a headdress of yellow feathers, takes less than five seconds to ponder a question.

"The soul of Carnival? Why it is here, darling," he coos, pointing at a crowd of thousands gathered for one of Rio de Janeiro's more than 200 informal street marches that give life to the yearly bacchanal of music, flesh, dance and drink.

The showcase event of Rio's Carnival is undoubtedly the two-night parade put on by traditional samba schools — an ornate spectacle with thousands of drummers, dancers and meticulously designed floats costing up to $2.5 million each.

But locals and tourists in the know say the true golden center of Carnival lies in the parties — known as "bandas," which play the same traditional songs each year, and "blocos," which mix up the music each time. With tickets to the samba school parade running upward of $1,000, these free parties keep Brazil's No. 1 tourist attraction accessible to all.

"The origins of Carnival are in the streets," said Paulo Montenegro, a 48-year-old lawyer taking part in Friday's "Hit On Me, I'm Willing" bloco. "That is why blocos are so important — it is free, democratic, and passes on the traditions of Carnival."

Although the first street bashes to take place during Carnival proper kicked off Friday, the parties have been in full swing for three weeks already.

In the Banda de Ipanema samba troupe's first march, about 30,000 people shuffled behind musicians and cross-dressing dancers done up as Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian singer who helped export samba to the world in the 1940s.

"It's a great cultural manifestation. You see children, older women, men, girls, gays, straights — it's a beautiful democracy of the streets," said Juju Maravilha, or "Marvelous Juju," before turning on his heels and posing for a photo with a family.

Rio's blocos are a tradition going back about 100 years and exist in every part of the city of 6 million. Unlike luxurious Carnival parties attended by the elite and hosted in posh hotels, they're open to anyone who shows up with a smile and feet ready to dance.

"It's the most beautiful part of Carnival, and here you will see all the tribes," said Joao Jadiole, a 35-year-old mechanical engineer from Rio, as he danced behind the Banda de Ipanema, shirtless, a can of beer in each hand. "The banda is peace, love, life, liveliness — everything that is wonderful about this city."

There is little method to the madness, but the blocos begin with a "concentration": a vaguely adhered-to appointment for gathering at a plaza, a street corner, wherever.

Banda de Ipanema met on a recent Saturday at 4 p.m. in one of the neighborhood's main plazas. This being Brazil, where the only event that begins on time is lunch break, by 4:20 only a few tourists and a horde of beer vendors were there.

Around 4:30, band members began showing up, trumpeters started tooting their horns, drummers began pounding out rhythms and hundreds of people — from young families to elderly women covered in silver glitter and dressed in skimpy bikinis — surrounded the musicians.

By 5:00, after playing several traditional Carnival songs to which the crowd lustily sang along, the band began making its way down the street toward Ipanema beach and the party quickly hit a fever pitch that lasted for several hours.

Banda de Ipanema, founded in 1965 under the shadow of Brazil's military dictatorship, prides itself on irreverent political satire.

Daniel Sbruzzi, a 62-year-old who was well into his suds as the party began, said he dressed up as a female "cousin" of President Barack Obama.

"Obama is going to be a revolutionary with no negative sides. Only positive," Sbruzzi said, hiking up his blue hula skirt and righting his long, blond wig. "He is an idol for the world, and I wanted to express how he makes us all feel like we are part of his family."

Irane Carneiro, who declined to give her age but appeared to be in her 60s, wore a red miniskirt, a gold tank top, at least four pounds of beads, a feather headdress and a good inch of makeup. She tried to explain the importance of the event, which she has attended since its inception.

"If a person loves to be happy, to live life, to leave their problems behind and take to the street with thousands of friends where for a moment everything is wonderful, then they will understand the true face of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival," she said.

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Brazilian performer Juju Maravilha, or 'Marvelous Juju,' dressed in gold and green, gown topped off by a
headdress of yellow feathers, during a Banda de Ipanema parade, in Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 07, 2009.

Locals and tourists in the know say the true golden center of Carnival lies in the parties, known as 'bandas,'
which play the same traditional songs each year, and 'blocos,' which mix up the music each time.

(AP Photo/
Ricardo Moraes)