festivities.
There is an alternative theory, however, which holds that
any link between ancient Greco-Roman festivals and the modern
Carnival is almost certainly a mistake. One reason is that
five centuries separate the last mention of festivals having
customs similar to those of Carnival (Lupercalia, A.D. 494)
and the first mention of Carnival (Carnelevare*,
A.D. 965**). The first document reporting festive customs
associated with the approach of Lent—the killing of
steers before the Pope after a parade through the city—was
written in 1140, long after the Romans and their festivals
had disappeared.
This alternative
theory places more emphasis on the humanistic reasons for
Carnival’s origins, namely that people were celebrating
the return of sunlight and warmth. This, when coupled with
the approach of the Lenten season, indicates that Carnival
developed independently of any ancient Greco-Roman festivals.
In the most general
sense, Carnival celebrations flourished in Europe in the 14th,
15th, and 16th centuries, before church reform led to the
repression of its sinful pleasures. The 17th and 18th centuries
saw the Carnival flourish in Rome and especially Venice, where
it was not uncommon for most of the city to be in masquerade
for half of the year.
CARNIVAL
IN THE UNITED STATES: It is widely speculated that
Carnival came to the United States via French colonists, who
first settled in Louisiana in 1699. Likewise, the first Mardi
Gras celebration in North America is said to have taken place
on March 2 of that year, when Pierre Lemoyne d’Iberville
and his brother Jean Lemoyne de Bienville encamped on what
would later be known as Point de Mardi Gras. However, the
first mention of any Carnival celebration in New Orleans is
in a 1781 edict by the governing council of the colony concerning
rowdy behavior.
Far more important
than the precise date of the first Mardi Gras is how the celebration
began to take on its modern appearance. This happened in 1857,
with the appearance of the Mistick Krewe of Comus.
The Mistick Krewe
of Comus was the brainchild of six residents of the Garden
District of New Orleans, who spontaneously decided to get
a bunch of friends and acquaintances together for the purpose
of energizing that year’s Mardi Gras celebration with
a spectacular parade and masquerade ball. The krewe’s
name was adopted from a masque (a
form of courtly entertainment involving music and dance) written
by John Milton in 1634.† The Mistick Krewe was the first
to creatively misspell the word “crew,” perhaps
because it was then fashionable to sound archaic. Prior to
the Krewe’s formation, Mardi Gras parades were mostly
informal and sporadic, but word quickly spread of Comus’
dazzling processions, and subsequent years saw copycat krewes
and even more spectacular displays.
One popular Mardi
Gras tradition that survives to this day is the procession
of the Rex, or King of the Carnival
(typically the last float in the parade). In 1871, the Russian
Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff arrived in New York City for a
brief tour of America. He was to be in New Orleans for Mardi
Gras of the following year, so a group of leading Crescent
City businessmen (including a key figure from the Krewe of
Comus) decided to honor the Duke by parading a Mardi Gras
king through the streets. The more socially ambitious members
of New Orleans believed the Rex should adopt the colors of
the Romanoff household— green (for faith), gold (for
power), and purple (for justice).
|
 |
The improbable anthem of Mardi Gras—the
burlesque song “If Ever I Cease to Love”—was
a favorite of Romanoff’s, who first heard it in New
York. The citizens of New Orleans, in an effort to impress
the young Duke, played it on Mardi Gras during his visit.
It has been the official song of the New Orleans Mardi Gras
ever since.
*Literally, “raising flesh,” from the Latin caro
(flesh) + levare (lighten, raise).
Folk etymology holds that the word comes from carne
vale (flesh, farewell). Both meanings come from
the idea that (a) people are saying goodbye to meat or (b)
they’re saying goodbye to sins—by having their
flesh flayed off (figuratively or otherwise).
**An alternative source holds that as early as the 5th century,
the early Christian church, appalled by the decadence of Lupercalia,
adopted the festival to its own ends and renamed it Carnelevamen.
Carnival thus became an opportunity for Christians to enjoy
themselves before the extended temperance of Lent, when things
like sexual promiscuity were prohibited.
† The masque, entitled Comus,
involves Comus, the Greek god of festivity, “a sorcerer
whose hedonism was equaled only by his guile.”
|
