With Carnival only two working days away, this morning we shared: 6 FUN CARNIVAL FACTS THAT YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN! 1. Meaning of the word Carnival Hundred 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. The practice spread to France, Spain and Portugal. As these Catholic countries began to take control of the Americas and other parts of the world, they brought with them their tradition of celebrating Carnival. 2. African influences Important to Caribbean festival arts are the ancient African traditions of parading and moving in circles through villages in costumes and masks. Circling villages was believed to bring good fortune, to heal problems, and chill out angry relatives who had died and passed into the next world. Carnival traditions also borrow from the African tradition of putting together natural objects (bones, grasses, beads, shells, fabric) to create a piece of sculpture, a mask, or costume — with each object or combination of objects representing a certain idea or spiritual force. Feathers were frequently used by Africans in their motherland on masks and headdresses as a symbol of our ability as humans to rise above problems, pains, heartbreaks, illness — to travel to another world to be reborn and to grow spiritually. Today, we see feathers used in many, many forms in creating carnival costumes. African dance and music traditions transformed the early carnival celebrations in the Americas, as African drum rhythms, large puppets, stick fighters, and stilt dancers began to make their appearances in the carnival festivities. 3. Carnival Celebrations When Carnival first began it was celebrated from December 26 until Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday). Nowadays Carnival festivities and activities are being held year-round in the Caribbean. The dates on which Carnival celebrations take place may vary from country to country and from island to island. 4. Steel Pans The Steel band originated from what was known as the Tamboo Bamboo ensemble which consisted of instruments of bamboo cut to various lengths and sizes which simulated the four main voices of music, soprano, alto, bass and tenor. The Tamboo Bamboo ensembles replaced the African Drums which were outlawed by the then Colonial government in the 1880’s. This type of musical accompaniment was used for Carnival Parades and street celebrations. Steel Pans of today are instruments made from used oil drums that have been cut off on one end and then shaped, pounded, and tuned. 5. Calypso Calypso in Greek means hiding. Calypso songs and music are commonly associated with Carnival. True meanings of lyrics are hidden behind a clever combination of words through poetry and rhyme. 6. Soca In the mid-1970s Lord Shorty combined the Afro-caribbean calypso with rhythmic elements of Indo-Trinidadian Chutney music to create soca, which would grow to replace calypso as the dominant genre at carnival.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 03:51:37 +0000
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