World Biggest Carnivals

The World’s Biggest Carnivals Model Experimental Senior High-School of Patras English course 2014-2015 The Carnival of Venice The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy. The carnival ends with the Christian celebration of the Lent, fourty days before Easter on Shrove Tuesday. The carnival is famed for its elaborate masks. History The carnival of Venice started from a victory of Serenissima Repubblica against the patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrico di Treven in the year 1162. To celebrate this victory, the people started to dance and make reunions in San Marco Square. In the 17th century, the Carnival of Venice was a way to save the prestigious image of Venice in the world. However 100 years later, specifically in 1797 King of Austria outlawed the festival entirely and the use of masks became forbidden. It reappeared in the 19th century, but for short periods and became an occasion for artistic creations. The Carnival returned entirely in 1979 because the Italian government wanted to bring back the history and the culture of Venice. One of the most important events is the contest for "the most beautiful mask" placed at the last weekend of the Carnival and judged by a panel of international costume and fashion designers. The Carnival is great touristic celebration. Every year million visitors come to Venice in order to enjoy the Carnival. Masks Masks have always been an important feature of the Venetian carnival. Traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano and the start of the carnival season at midnight of Shrove Tuesday. As masks were also allowed on Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large portion of the year in disguise. Venetian masks can be made of leather, porcelain or using the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design, decoration, and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are all hand- painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate; however, this makes them rather expensive when compared to the widespread, low-quality counterfeit masks produced mainly by Chinese factories. This unfair competition is a further factor that accelerates the decline of this historical craftsmanship peculiar to the city of Venice. Types of masks There are 4 types of masks: • 1)Columbina • 2)Medico della peste • 3)Moretta • 4)Volto Rio Carnival The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous festival held before Lent every year and considered the biggest carnival in the world with two million people per day on the streets. The first festivals of Rio date back to 1723. The typical Rio carnival parade is filled with revelers, floats and adornments from numerous samba schools which are located in Rio. A samba school is composed of a collaboration of local neighbours that want to attend carnival together, with some kind of regional, geographical common background. Rio Carnival tickets In 1984 the government decided to give Rio Carnival its new home in the Sambadrome. Today, some of the most famous events of Rio Carnival are ticketed events. There are different types of Sambadrome tickets that are available for purchase. A) Grandstand tickets are general admissions tickets that are available on a first come-first serve basis and are not allocated ahead of time. B) Frisas are open air box seats located along the samba runway. C) Camarotes are luxury boxes situated between the frisas and the grandstands. D) Sector 9 is the tourist sector which are the same as grandstand tickets, with the difference being that they are allocated so people have assigned seats. Carnival ticket prices can vary from US$55 to US$3000, depending on the ticket type, sector and season. Street Carnival As the parade is taking place in the Sambadrome and the balls are being held in the Copacabana Palace and beach, many carnival participants are at other locations. Street festivals are very common during carnival and are highly populated by the locals. Elegance and extravagance are usually left behind, but music and dancing are still extremely common. Anyone is allowed to participate in the street festivals. Bandas and blocos are very familiar with the street carnival especially because it takes nothing to join in on the fun except to jump in. One of the most well known bandas of Rio is Banda de Ipanema. Banda de Ipanema was first created in 1965 and is known as Rio’s most irreverent street band. Music Music is another major aspect of all parts of carnival. As stated by Samba City, “Samba Carnival Instruments are an important part of Brazil and the Rio de Janeiro Carnevale, sending out the irresistible beats and rhythms making the crowd explode in a colourful dance revolution fantasy fest!” The samba that is found in Rio is batucada, referring to the dance and music being based on percussion instruments. It “is born of a rhythmic necessity that it allows you to sing, to dance, and to parade at the same time.” This is why the batucada style is found in most all of Rio’s street carnivals. PATRAS CARNIVAL This is the largest event of its kind in Greece and one of the biggest in Europe. It includes dances, parades, hidden treasure hunt, the children΄s carnival and floats. The Saturday night parade The grand parade and the burning of the carnival king By: • John Balasopoulos • Leonidas Papageorgopoulos • Panos Filtisenios .

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