Carnivals are celebrated around the world, with some of the largest including Notting Hill Carnival in London, carnivals in Somerset, UK, the Venice Carnival in Italy, Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, USA. The traditions began hundreds of years ago in Europe as a celebration before Lent and were brought by settlers to their colonies, incorporating local customs. Today, carnivals remain a celebration of culture, music, dance, and the coming of spring.

1. CARNIVALS AROUND THE WORLD

2. UNITED KINGDOM

3. Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which takes place in Notting Hill, London, England each August, over two days (Sunday and the following bank holiday). It is led by members of the Caribbean population, many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. NOTTING HILL

4. Somerset’s carnival season is an annual parade of illuminated floats. There are three different carnival circuits; Guy Fawkes (the most popular), Wessex and South Somerset. Probably the largest illuminated processions in the world, the Somerset Guy Fawkes Carnivals are not only one of the UK's most astonishing sights, but they are also one of its best-kept secrets. Little-known outside the region, the history of this event is deep-seated in local culture, and the story is one of Catholic persecution. It dates back to 1605 when Guy Fawkes infamously tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and murder King James, after he had outlawed Catholicism. SOMERSET

5. ITALY

6. The Venice Carnival is the most internationally known festival celebrated in Venice, Italy, as well as being one of the oldest. This congregation of masked people, called Venice Carnival, began in the 15th century, but the tradition can be traced back to the beginning of the 14th Century. VENICE The Carnival in Venice is said to have originated from an important victory of the "Repubblica della Serenissima" (how it was called the town of VENEZIA in those times), in the war against Ulrico, Patriarch of Aquileia, in the year 1162. To celebrate this victory, dances and reunions started to take place in SAN MARCO SQUARE. It is celebrated: January 25 – February 5

7. CANADA

8. QUÉBEC Since the beginning of the French colony, the habitants of New France created a rowdy tradition of getting together just before Lent to eat, drink and be merry. At this time, this intense period of revelry was already designated as the Carnival. The custom of celebrating from the end of January until mid-February has long been popular.

9. THE UNITED STATES

10. NEW ORLEANS Mardi Gras was brought to Louisiana by early French settlers . The first record of the holiday being marked in Louisiana is 1699 . Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". Mardi Gras is the final day of Carnival the three day period preceding the beginning of Lent, the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday immediately before Ash Wednesday (some traditions count Carnival as the entire period of time between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday. Each year the Mardi Gras season starts on January 6.

11. SOUTH AMERICA

12. RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil Carnival history in Rio de Janeiro is supposed to have strong roots back to Europe with the festival of lent often being represented as the origin of Carnival and a mixture with African traditions. People dance and parade with loud Samba music.

13. Hundred and hundreds of years ago, the followers of the Catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, carnevale — which means “to put away the meat.” As time passed, carnivals in Italy became quite famous; and in fact the practice spread to France, Spain, and all the Catholic countries in Europe. Then as the French, Spanish, and Portuguese began to take control of the Americas and other parts of the world, they brought with them their tradition of celebrating carnival. DID YOU KNOW…? The people of old Europe thought the reason of the dark and cold winter was caused by evils. When people found the sign of the spring, they celebrated to drive away the winter evils. In Christianity, Easter is celebrated in March or April. 40 days before the Easter, except no counting of Sundays, is the Fat Tuesday which is the last day of the carnivals. Today, the old spring celebrations mixed with the carnivals for spring celebrations.

14. As you can see, CARNIVALS is an annual celebration of life found in many countries of the world. And in fact, by learning more about carnival we can learn more about ourselves and a lot about accepting and understanding other cultures. Carnivals is celebrated in many other parts of the world like: Trinidad and Tobago – in the Caribbean Islands “ Fastnacht” in Germany Nice (France)

15. HAPPY MARDI GRAS!! Bye!