Current carnivals originated from the ancient Roman Bacchanalia celebrations held in honor of the god Bacchus. The Catholic Church could not stop the Bacchanalia, so they replaced it with Carnival. In the Middle Ages, Carnival was celebrated with food, drink, and games to prepare for the upcoming period of abstinence. Major modern carnival celebrations occur in Rio de Janeiro, Venice, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and feature parades, music, dancing, and costumes. Carnival traditions vary between locations but generally involve costumes, masks, and celebrations in the days before Lent.

1. Bacchanalia
Current carnivals come from the
Bacchanalia, celebrated in Roman times.
Bacchanalia were celebrations in honor of
God Bacchus.
At the beginning only women celebrated it
and in secret.
The Catholic Church couldn’t stop the
Bacchanalia, so they replaced it with the
Carnival.

2. The Carnival in the Middle Ages.
In the Middle Ages the Church
prosecuted those who didn’t respect law.
However, the Carnival renewed and the
tradition went on.
It was celebrated with lots of food and
drink.

3. International carnival
The most important
carnivals in the world are
in:
Rio de Janerio
Venice

4. • Tenerife’s carnival is
very similar to Brasil’s
carnivals. We also have
parades like in Rio de
Janeiro, but these are
smaller
Rio de Janeiro’s parade
In these cities’
carnivals, music is
similar too.
Tenerife’s parade

5. Venice’s Carnival
However, in Venice,
Carnival is different.
There, all the
people wear their
costumes in the
festival.
People wear
beautiful
masks with
costumes

6. Carnivals in
Spain

7. Since when…?
• According to historians, the origins of carnival date
back to ancient Egypt and Sumeria. In Spain, Carnival is
celebrated in many towns and cities considered as the
most famous carnival held in the country are: The
Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and another
important is the Carnival of Cádiz.
• One of the most popular landmarks in our country is Carnivals.
It’s celebrated in Christian countries. People in general
celebrate it for three days.
In the Middle Ages, it was celebrated with games, dances and
enjoying food and drink, to be prepared for the time of
abstinence.

8. • In Spain, during the reign of Fernando and Isabel people used to dress
up on certain days in order to play pranks in public places. Later,
in 1523, Carlos I banned masks and masked
people. Similarly, Felipe II also carried out a ban on masks.
• When the dictator Franco ruled, it was banned again. To avoid the ban
made by Franco, the Canarian carnivals were celebrated in winter and
people called it “the winter’s festival”.
• At the end of Franco’s regime, the party of the costumes enjoyed its
true golden age. In the early years of the eighties it was rare to see
someone without a flashy outfit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHWgPeC5fwc&feature=related

9. Carnivals
How does it become
in the Basque
Country?

10. Although carnival is not
celebrated as before, in some
places, like in Lantz (Navarre)
they are celebrated in the
traditional way even today.
Representations of Basque
mythological characters parade
in the streets.

11. Miel Otxin
• He is a wicked
bandit who
represents the bad
spirits. He wears
blue trousers, a
tall cap and a
coloured shirt
made of paper.

12. Ziripot
• He wears sacks of
hay. He walks around
the streets of Lantz
while the Zaldiko tries
to knock him down.

13. Zaldiko
• He is half man and half
horse, and elegantly
dressed. He tries to
knock down Ziripot.
Another character,
known as Arotzak, is
dressed as a
blacksmith and puts
the horseshoes on the
Zaldiko.

14. How do we celebrate it?

15. • In our country, Spain, most people
celebrate carnivals on the streets
with friends and the family, not
privately, going to pubs, parades,
etc.
• Also, we celebrate it at schools with
children, with beautiful parades,
carnival dances and awesome
costumes.
• Furthermore, we can see amazing
floats in the streets.

16. • Teenagers usually go out with friends and they
meet in groups wearing the same costume.
They can do their own costume or they can
buy them, but it´s always funnier to sew your
own. We have a free week without school.

17. The Burial of the Sardine
in Bilbao

18. • A special event takes place the last day
of Carnivals in many cities of
the Basque Country.
• Tuesday of Carnival: it’s called “the burial
of the sardine” in order to finish Carnivals.
It consist in the burning of a symbolic
figure, the sardine, where the past is
buried for the beginnig of a new and better
society, finishing with the vices and
sins committed during the holidays.
• Howewer, nowadays the religious
significance has been lost in most places,
specially in cities.

19. Carnivals
in Getxo
The culture department of Getxo,
holds every year the carnival for
`primary schools in this town. All
teachers meet to choose the costumes,
they do them with the students. The
council cuts the traffic on the most
important streets of the town, for
the schools parade. There are usually
clowns to entertain children.