Scores of cities from Rio to Cologne host their own Carnival festivities during the week before Lent, but not many can boast a party that dates back to 1268.
In those days, the Venice Carnevale was frowned upon by the local authorities and the Church. The debauchery and gluttony of the celebration recalled ancient pagan [...]
From the New York Times, February 1906
GLORIOUS [...]
The word “carnival” comes from the Latin carne vale meaning “farewell to the flesh”. It originally referred to festivals that fell just before Lent, when eating meat was forbidden. Famous pre-lenten carnivals include Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, Nice, and Trinidad.
Inspired by the world-famous Trinidad Carnival, Notting Hill takes place in August, because you’d have to [...]
This is it, the moment you’ve been waiting for…
The first EVER international World Day of–I guess that’s redundant–the first ever annual World Day of Social Justice!
What’s that? You never even heard of World Day for Social Justice? The U.N. has been preparing for this moment since November 19, 2007, when it declared:
The General Assembly…Recalling the [...]
Key ingredients:
Take a warm August Caribbean day.
Add Music: Calypso, Steel drums, Soca, and other traditional rhythms.
Mix with bright, colorfully-costumed dancers and musicians atop or around decorated floats
And set amid thousands of spectators dancing along the procession route.
You have yourself Carnival.
Serves more than you can imagine.
Carnival in Trinidad (March)
Though many locales celebrate before Ash [...]
Mardi Gras, as I’m sure you’re well aware, is first and foremost a devout religious ceremony, marking the last day in the Catholic liturgical calendar that Christians can wear beads, eat pancakes and show their boobs.
Rarely has so much joy emanated from such a small dot on the globe, and reverberated with as much noise as Carnival.
Trinidad and Tobago is the 172nd smallest country in the world, but per capita, it’s party spot #1.
In the 1770s Trinidad had only a few thousand inhabitants, mostly Amerindians; it was one of the [...]