Carnival

I would like to express my views on Carnival through the research of Dr. Lynne A. Guitar Ph.D. of Dominican Republic. She has earned much accolade for her research and findings on several cultural anthropology. Guyana proudly held its first Carnival last weekend. Hence, I am intrigued to express a brief viewpoint on the topic for two reasons, namely, Christian roots of Carnival and its significance today. In Ancient Greece and Italy, long before the emergence of Christianity, people whom we call pagans today had wild celebrations centered around the winter and spring solstices, and spring and fall equinoxes, celebrations that the people did not want to give up, even after they became Christians. The Catholic Church, therefore, adopted many of the celebrations, overlaying them with Christian meanings. For instance, the wildly licentious feast called Saturnalia, dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and to the god of wine, Bacchus, a festival that used to be celebrated around the longest night of the year (December 17 under the old calendar), became the Roman Empire’s celebration of Christmas on December 25. The licentiousness of the pagan celebration was postponed until the week before Lent began, around the time of the spring equinox. The new springtime celebration came to be called carnival or carnaval from the Latin wordscarnis(“flesh” or “meat”) and levare(“to leave off”), because immediately after the carnival festival came the time of Lent, 40 solemn days of penance and sacrifice, which included not eating meat as well as the renunciation of other pleasures of the flesh. Most of the medieval carnival festivals climaxed on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent officially began on Ash Wednesday. (In Latin, Shrove Tuesday is mardisgras.) Although the word “carnival” originated with this pre-Lenten celebration, the celebratory style of masking, inversion and grotesquerie came to characterize other festivals as well; as a result, some scholars specify the pre-Lenten carnival with the term carnestolendas. As Christianity spread, so too did the celebration of carnival—it spread across Europe and eventually to the Americas, carried there by European conquistadors and colonists.

Carnival in the Caribbean has a complicated beginning. It is tied to colonialism, religious conversion, and ultimately freedom and celebration. The festival said to have originated with the Italian Catholics in Europe, and it later spread to the French and Spanish, who brought the pre-Lenten tradition with them when the y settled in Trinidad, Dominica, Haiti, Martinique and other Caribbean Islands. Historians believe that French settlers would have brought the tradition of Carnival with the Fat Tuesday masquerade in the 18^th Century. This eventually evolved into heterogeneous culture. Hence, dress, music and dance become the primary ingredient for the celebration after the emancipation in 1934. It is important understand and learn the history of what we celebrate.

Lent: Finding Happiness

There is a tale about a king who was unhappy. He had everything, and yet he could not figure out the cause of his unhappiness. His doctors tried many therapies and failed to find a cure for the king’s melancholy. Finally, the king’s astrologer told him that if he wore the shirt of the happiest man in his land, he would be happy. The king sent his ministers all over the land, but every person seemed to have some discontent brewing in her/his life.

One day, when the king went hunting in the forest, he found a man whistling while chopping wood. The king inquired: “My friend, would you like a better job or more money?” The woodcutter replied: “No. I have a good wife and children, a job I enjoy, and a roof over my head. I have all that I need.” The king realized that this was the man he was looking for; unfortunately, the man did not own a shirt!

This tale inspires and challenges us. The first disciples left behind their families, boats, nets, and homes, and followed Jesus. In contrast, the rich young man rejected Jesus’ invitation to discipleship and “went away sad, for he had many possessions.” Peter begins to say, “Lord, we have given up everything.” In other words, “What’s in it for us?” Gently, Jesus helps his disciples understand that they have given up their human families, but now they receive another community that is new and very different—a community that is centered on the will of God. Perhaps Peter was helped to remember an earlier moment when Jesus said: “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”