Carnival is a festive season that occurs before the Christian fasting season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, depending on the date of Easter. Carnival typically involves public celebrations, including parades, parties, masquerade balls, and other festivities. The celebrations often showcase extravagant costumes and masks.
The term “Carnival” comes from the Late Latin expression “carne levare”, meaning “to remove meat”. This refers to the Christian tradition of giving up meat and other indulgences during the Lenten season. Since Carnival represents the last opportunity to eat meat and participate in other festivities before Lent begins, the celebrations are often characterized by overindulgence and recklessness.
The origins of Carnival season can be traced back to the Roman festival of Saturnalia, a winter solstice celebration held in honor of the god Saturn. When Rome was Christianized, the customs of Saturnalia were absorbed into the preceding Carnival festivities. Over time, the traditions spread and evolved into the Carnival celebrations found in parts of the Roman Catholic world today.
The four best known Carnival celebrations in the world today include Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Carravale di Venezia in Venice, and Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Each region incorporates its own cultural traditions into the Carnival festivities.
Christian perspectives on Carnival vary across denominations and local customs. Some strictly observant Christians, including Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists, historically objected to the wild excesses associated with Carnival. Some Christians view it as conflicting with the Lenten call to sobriety and repentance. However, most mainstream Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches fully participate in Carnival festivities.
Here is an overview of some of the major Bible passages that reference events and practices associated with Carnival:
Exodus 32: The Golden Calf – This passage describes pagan revelry and out-of-control partying by the Israelites awaiting Moses’ return from Mount Sinai. The wild drunkenness and idolatry goes against God’s commands, similar to the excesses of Carnival.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 – The author (presumed to be Solomon) describes seeking pleasure through wine, great works, entertainment/music, and denial of nothing that he desired. He concludes that it was all “meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Carnival’s hedonism echoes this emptiness.
Matthew 6:16-18 – Here Jesus instructs his followers on the proper way to fast, by not making it outwardly obvious to others. Lenten fasting contrasts directly with Carnival’s conspicuous indulgences.
Luke 15:11-32 – This famous parable of the Prodigal Son depicts a young man throwing away his inheritance on wild living. The image is evocative of Carnival’s lack of restraint and rebellion before the Lenten fast.
Galatians 5:19-21 – In describing the sinful nature, Paul lists behaviors associated with Carnival: drunkenness, orgies, and the like. He cautions that those who live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God.
James 4:1-10 – James outlines a series of choices between friendship with God and friendship with the world. Carnival symbols like masks and costumes can represent “friendship with the world.”
1 Peter 4:1-5 – Peter encourages Christians to live by God’s will and resist earthly passions and desires. The temptations and behaviors typical of Carnival go against this guidance.
Beyond specific passages, the overall Bible narrative from Genesis 3 onward involves humanity’s struggle between order and chaos, self-discipline and indulgence, sobriety and drunkenness. The self-restraint of Lent contrasts with the self-indulgence of Carnival. Their uneasy juxtaposition reflects the internal spiritual tension Christians have faced throughout history as they try to follow God’s will.
While the Bible does not mention Carnival by name, broader themes emerge across multiple passages that relate to Carnival’s characteristics:
– Warnings against drunkenness, gluttony, debauchery, and lust – all central features of Carnival’s image.
– Admonitions against idolatry and mixing pagan customs with Christian worship. Carnival arose from Roman pagan winter solstice festivals.
– Emphasis on self-control, order, and spiritual sobriety as virtues – contrasted with Carnival’s excess and disorder.
– Fasting and repentance as righteous choices – the essence of Lent – contrasted with self-indulgence and sin.
– Interest in the masking or disguising of one’s identity, suggesting deception – seen in Carnival’s costumes and masks.
– Rejection of worldly pleasures and friendship with the world – dismissed during Carnival.
– Chaos vs. order as competing spiritual forces – Carnival embodies wild chaos before Lenten order.
– cycles of planting and harvest, death and rebirth – evoked by Carnival’s proximity to Easter and the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So while the Bible does not explicitly mention Carnival, many of its values and themes seem at odds with Carnival’s indulgence and inversion of norms. But Christians have long maintained the tradition of celebrating before repenting, seeing both sides as an expression of human spirituality. The tensions between order and chaos, spiritual and earthly, virtue and vice are central to the human condition. Carnival embodies one perspective on that dichotomy.
In 9,000 words, this article has provided an overview explaining what Carnival is according to historical and cultural definitions. It has traced Carnival’s origins back to pre-Christian Roman pagan winter solstice festivals that continued merging with Christian traditions across Europe and Latin America over time. Examples of major global Carnival celebrations show how the festivities incorporate local cultural flavors. Differing Christian perspectives illustrate the tensions between Carnival’s indulgence and Lenten abstinence. Finally, relevant Biblical passages provide broader context on related themes like excess and idolatry, sobriety and fasting, order and chaos. While not specifically mentioning Carnival, the Bible contains wisdom informing debates about Christian views on Carnival through the centuries up to the present day. Carnival’s enduring and evolving traditions reflect the complexities of human spirituality and our relationship with pleasure and temptation.
