4. It takes place in the city of NICE in France for 15 days in
FEBRUARY.
It consists of FLOWER PROCESSIONS, FLOATS,
COSTUMES and PARTIES .
It includes the famous “battle of the flowers”, where men
and women throw as much as 100.000 flowers from the
flower-covered floats.
On the last day there is a GRAND PARADE and amazing
FIREWORKS .
5. The carnival of Binche is an event that takes place each year in the Belgian town
of Binche during the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday.
The centrepiece of the carnival's proceedings are clown-like performers known
as Gilles. The Gilles are characterised by their vibrant dress, wax masks and
wooden footwear. They number up to 1,000 at any given time, range in age from 3
to 60 years old, and are customarily male. From dawn on the morning of the
carnival's final day, Gilles appear in the centre of Binche, to dance to the sound of
drums Later during the day, they don large hats adorned with ostrich plumes, and
march through the town with baskets of oranges. These oranges are thrown
to members of the crowd gathered to view the procession.
6. It takes place in the streets of Notting Hill, London, for 2 days, each August
since 1966. It is led by Caribbean people (Trinidad and Tobago) who have been
living in London since the 50’s.For many years the celebrations ended up in riots
and that was what everyone thought of when “carnival” was named. So much
so,that banning it was also considered. Prince Charles was one of the
establishment figures who supported the event. Nowadays, London multicultural
diversity is celebrated and it is freer from serious trouble. 720.000 people
attended Notting Hill carnival last year.
7. The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous festival held before Lent every year
and considered the biggest carnival in the world with two million people per day on the
streets. The first festivals of Rio date back to 1723. The typical Rio carnival parade is
filled with revelers, floats and adornments from numerous samba schools which are
located in Rio.
8. Celebrations are concentrated for about two weeks before and through Fat
Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French). Usually there is one major parade each day (weather
permitting); many days have several large parades. The largest and most elaborate parades
take place the last five days of the season. In the final week of Carnival, many large and
small events occur throughout New Orleans and surrounding communities.
9. Venice is one of the most famous carnivals around the world and also one
of the oldest, it took place in 1268 for the first time.
Masks have always been the central feature of the Carnevale di Venezia,
tradition that dates back to the ancient times when people often wore
them to hide their identity while misbehaving. Today it’s a time of
masked balls, stilt walkers, jugglers, magicians and fireworks.
