Carnival

See also Circus (performing art). Costco has issued a document [3] clearly leveled at the charges of mural damage and unnecessary tree removal. In America a smaller or non-permanent funfair is called a carnival in contrast to the permanent amusement park. Costco tore down the Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca, Mexico, to build a store there and has faced opposition [1] from TIAA-CREF shareholders as well as its own shareholders [2]. Many carnivals also have an associated funfair (or fun fair) with a number of amusement rides and sidestalls. A yearly event (usually in mid-July) is pizza week, where $3 coupons are distributed for whole pizzas. The Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria[3] is one of the most typical and famous parties of the city, and is not only well known in Spain, but also has a worldwide fame. The chicken strips found in chicken bakes are the same chicken strips used in the chicken salads.

Other places famous for their carnivals are Cádiz and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital city of Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands. The company has added other types of food, such as pizza, chicken bakes, chicken salad, smoothies, churros, pretzels and ice cream. Called the Sardine's Funeral Parade it marks the end of the period when it is mandatory to eat fish and vegetables only. The hot dogs used are kosher and the brands used are Sinai Kosher or Hebrew National. When Lent ends, the Saturday following Holy Week is celebrated in a festival in Murcia, Spain. As a matter of fact, the price of the hot dog and soda is still the same price as it was when they first opened, $1.50, a price Jim Sinegal has stated will remain indefinitely. The Polish Carnival Season includes Fat Thursday (Polish: Tłusty Czwartek) - a day for eating pączki - and Śledziówka (Shrove Tuesday), or Herring Day (herring is a traditional Polish appetizer for drinking vodka). These began as stand-alone impromptu arrangements outside of warehouses but are now built directly into current warehouses as actual mini-restaurants.

In Poland the traditional way of celebrating the Carnival is kulig, a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the snow-covered countryside. Finally, Costco is well known for its hot dog stands. Carnival starts on February 2nd and ends on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Even the membership fee is fully refundable at any time. It was not until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1970s that a revival of old traditions began. Computers, which most retailers loathe to accept for a refund, have a six-month return period. The Austrians took control of the city on January 18, 1798 and it fell into a decline which also effectively brought carnival celebrations to a halt for many years. Buyers effectively "rent" the product temporarily by buying and later returning it for a refund.

In 1797 Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. Many people take advantage of this with DVDs, software and other media. Maskmakers (mascareri) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild. Unlike other stores, Costco allows returns of opened media. As masks were also allowed during Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise [2]. Costco has a very generous product return policy that allows customers to return most products indefinitely. Stephen's Day, December 26) at the start of the carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday. They have also introduced an automobile purchasing program where members can purchase new cars at specially arranged prices.

Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival; traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Costco also acts as a broker for services such as investment products and travel including air travel and cruise vacations. The subversive nature of the festival is reflected in the many laws created over the centuries in Italy attempting to restrict celebrations and often banning the wearing of masks. Some locations have liquor stores which are usually separate in order to comply with liquor license restrictions. The carnival in Venice was first recorded in 1268. Many stores have tire garages, pharmacies,Hearing Aid Centers, optometrists, photo processing and gas stations. In La Ceiba in Honduras carnival is held on the third Saturday of every May to commemorate San Isidro, and is the largest in Central America. It now sells many other products that are more difficult to handle, such as fresh produce, meat, seafood, fresh baked goods, flowers, clothing, books, software, home electronics, jewelry, art and furniture.

The Krabbegatse Carnival shares very little traditions and folklore with the rest of the Netherlands and they have celebrated it in their specific way ever since in 1882 the first official Federation for Carnaval (De Sitchting Vastenavend) was erected, long before the Carnival was modernised and adopted in the rest of The Netherlands. Initially it preferred to sell only boxed products that could be dispensed by simply tearing the shrinkwrap off a pallet. The third variant can be found in Bergen op Zoom, or Krabbegat as they call it during the festivities. Over the years, Costco has gradually expanded its range of products and services. Maastricht is famous for its Carnival which mimics Italian, mostly Venician, traditions, culture and costumes. Sinegal in 2004, saying "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder." Sinegal counters that good wages and benefits more than pay for themselves by holding down employee turnover, reducing employee theft and by appealing to a certain percentage of affluent customers who appreciate that the low prices do not come at the workers' expense. The most well-known variant is known as the Rijnlandsche Carnival and it shares many folklore traditions with its German and Belgium counterparts. Wall Street analyst Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank criticized Mr.

Overall there are three different types of Carnival celebrated in The Netherlands. A recent estimate (New York Times, July 17, 2005) puts Costco's average pay at $17 per hour, or 42% higher than Walmart-owned "Sam's Club". During Dutch Carnival, many traditions are kept alive, like the boerenbruiloft (farmer's wedding) and the haring happen (eating haring) at Ash Wednesday but the traditions vary from town to town. These perks are the highest in the industry and especially surprising considering Costco's price-centric sales strategy (similar to Wal-Mart's, a company criticized for its low pay and refusal to offer benefits to most employees). During Vasteloavend (Carnival in the local dialect), every town is one big party. For instance, a cashier with four years of experience can earn more than $40,000 with full benefits, including medical, dental, Rx, disability, and life, and is even entitled to participate in a 401k program and purchase stock options. Although the west of Noord Brabant may have the oldest Carnival, it is the south of the most southern province of The Netherlands, Limburg, where many Dutch go to celebrate it. Costco is noted for providing full benefits and comparatively generous compensation to its employees.

Carnival here has been celebrated ever since the medieval times and was modernized after WW II, Bergen op Zoom even continued to celebrate it indoors. This use of float is a major advantage in its own right; Costco is essentially borrowing money from their suppliers with no interest. Most popular and even renowned places where Vastenavend is held (although every city, town or village celebrates it) are 's-Hertogenbosch, Bergen op Zoom and Breda. Since Costco has such high sales volume and rapid inventory turnover, it is able to receive cash from the sale of a large portion of its inventory before it has to pay back its suppliers. Here carnival is known as Vastenavend (literally "Fasting evening"). This encourages consumers to regularly visit their local warehouse for surprise deals. Carnival in The Netherlands is the oldest in the west of the southern province Noord Brabant. In many other categories the company constantly seeks the best deals currently available, so products will appear and disappear over short periods of time.

In the Netherlands, the last day of Carnival (carnaval) is held exactly 40 days (not counting Sundays) before Easter, making the days of celebration vary between 4 January and 28 February. In some product categories, the company does not rotate products often, so customers can expect certain brands of snacks or beverages to be in stock indefinitely. Politicians often attend the event and are then shown on TV laughing when the joke is on them. Many of the products it stocks are high quality at a reasonable cost instead of inferior quality at a low price. The most famous event is the Villacher Fasching in Villach, Carinthia, which draws a TV audience of about 25% of the Austrian population every year. Costco concentrates more on overall value than the lowest possible price for its product range. Other than in Germany, where similar events tend to be ritualistic and ceremonial (the German events, even though they were sometimes broadcoast on Austrian TV in the past, are increasingly considered boring by Austrians), the Austrian events focus on stand-up comedy and political satire. Rather, stores carry only a few very popular product categories and selected products within each category.

Third, in many towns and villages the local Faschingsgilden (Carnival Guilds) meet and offer their comedy programs to the public. Unlike many retailers, stores do not maintain a full range of every product type and every major brand within each product category. Second, January and February are the high season for ballroom dancing, with a large number of balls talking place especially in the Hofburg and other palaces in Vienna, including the famous Vienna Opera Ball. Besides frugality, Costco is also famous for its idiosyncratic inventory practices. Children are often encouraged to come to school in their costume on the Faschingsdienstag (=Mardi Gras), and even some adults come to their workplace in a costume. Costco caps its profit margin on most products at 14% and allows itself slightly higher margins only on its Kirkland Signature store brand (a name derived from its previous headquarters in Kirkland) with a strict 15% profit limit. Such parties are often held in private homes. This contrasts with other retailers who take the additional trouble to break down pallets and stock individual products on shelves.

First, there are parties called Faschingsfest or Gschnas, where people dress up in funny costumes, similar to what Americans do at Halloween. Most products are delivered to the store on shipping pallets, and the pallets are used to display products for sale on the retail floor. In Austria, Carnival is called Fasching and is generally celebrated in several types of events. The company's warehouses are sparsely decorated, with the exception of colorful marketing banners. Elsewhere the day is called "Women's Carnival" (Weiberfastnacht), being the day when tradition says that women take control. The corporate jet is not used unless it is filled to capacity. In standard German, schmutzig means "dirty", but actually the name is from the local dialect where schmutzig means "fat"; "Greasy Thursday". Costco doesn't have a public relations department either, believing it is unnecessary.

The festival starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, known in these regions as Schmutziger Donnerstag or Fettdonnerstag. In fact, many senior executives, including Costco's CEO, use office furniture that was purchased from the Boeing Company when Costco was started. Switzerland and Vorarlberg, in Austria, also hold this celebration. Costco is able to charge sometimes astonishingly low prices by keeping overhead low, returning savings to consumers. Fastnacht is held in Baden-Württemberg, parts of Bavaria, and Alsace. Purchases made with gift cards, called Costco cash also do not require a membership. Variants are Fasnet, Fasnacht or Fasent. Purchases made at Costco's website do not require a membership, however a 5% surcharge is added to purchases made by non-members.

This celebration is known as Fastnacht (literally "Fasting Eve" as it originally only referred to the eve of the fasting season). Memberships must be purchased in advance; the cheapest membership costs $45 for one year. The "Swabian-Alemannic" carnival only begins on January 6 (Epiphany/Three Kings Day). The food court where one can purchase fast food items such as hot dogs and pizza is open to both members and non-members. Today all Carnival Clubs are assembled in the German Carnival Association. As a warehouse club, Costco is open to only members and their guests, except for purchases of liquor, gasoline and prescription drugs in some US states due to state law and liquor license restrictions. Modern carnival there began in 1823 with the founding of a Carnival Club in Cologne. These goods are usually bulk-packaged and sold primarily to large families, small businesses and small business owners' families.

In the Rhineland as the most typical Carnival region, festivities developed especially strongly, since it was a way to express subversive anti-Prussian and anti-French thoughts in times of occupation, through parody and mockery. Costco's success is a result of its focus on selling products at low prices, often at very high volume. and finishes on Ash Wednesday. As of 2005, Sinegal and Brotman act as Chief Executive Officer and President and Chairman, respectively. Officially, the carnival season, which is also called the Fifth Season, begins each year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m. Costco's closest competitor, Wal-Mart-owned Sam's Club, has two hundred more stores than Costco, yet routinely earns more than $1 billion less in revenues each year. German Carnival parades are held on the weekend before and especially on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the day before Shrove Tuesday, and sometimes also on Shrove Tuesday in the suburbs of larger carnival cities. Costco employs about 103,000 full- and part-time employees, and for fiscal year 2004, ended in August, the company's store sales rose 13% to $47.1 billion.

Although the festival and party season in Germany starts as early as the beginning of January, the actual carnival week starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. As of July 2005 Costco has 456 locations:. In the South of Germany carnival is called Fasching and especially Munich developed a special kind of celebration. Costco has also changed the site of its corporate headquarters from the city of Kirkland, Washington, to Issaquah, Washington. Whilst these events are widespread in all big and smaller places of that area, only Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Mainz, Bonn are supposed to be carnival "strongholds". In 1997, PriceCostco changed its name back to Costco, under which the company currently operates. Germany, especially the western part (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate) is famous for Karneval celebrations such as parades and costume balls. Costco's web site was first introduced in 1995, and it started conducting e-commerce in 1998 at Costco.com.

Bigger carnivals will sometimes also include a funfair, fireworks display or food stalls such as a beer tent. In 1993, Costco and Price Club merged, forming "PriceCostco." The combined company had 206 locations generating $16 billion in annual sales and created the company's current structure. Circuits and Carnival Clubs (societies who build and run floats) put a lot of effort in to fundraising for the carnivals as well as charity, and to this end there are collectors with buckets walking in the procession, and in most places one or two floats used specially for collecting money, usually allowing the spectators to throw their contribution onto the float. This new venture proved very successful; Costco became the first company ever to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales in less than six years. Carnivals are arranged into circuits, and so the same floats can be seen in different towns over the carnival period. Its unique model of serving primarily small-business owners proved very successful, prompting James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman to open the first Costco warehouse location in Seattle. With the float with the most points at the end of the carnival season picking up the presigious County Cup. Costco's first location, opened in 1976 under the "Price Club" name, was housed in a Quonset hut in San Diego.

These parades are also a competition for best float and best walking entrant categories. . In Somerset, carnivals are held in October and November each year, and generally consist of a parade of illuminated floats or carts, with one or two marching bands, groups of cheerleaders, and individuals walking in costume. Costco Wholesale Corporation NASDAQ: COST is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the world, and headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States, with its flagship warehouse #1 in nearby Seattle. Several have performance and holiday parade charters (now historical documents) going back many hundreds of years. 4 in Taiwan. Devizes in Wiltshire, for example, has a week of carnival festivities which includes a street festival and a traditional confetti battle, concluding with a carnival parade with bands on the last day. 5 in Japan, and.

Over 100 smaller rural village and town carnivals still survive across the UK, sometimes taking note of Caribbean and European styles but striving to maintain their individuality and local community spirit. 5 in South Korea,. The leading festivities are Notting Hill Carnival in August (reputedly the world's largest), and Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival in November. 16 in the United Kingdom (1 additional store opening soon),. Caribbean influence has led to the establishment of several "West Indian" carnivals, but these are not held in Carnival season. 25 in Mexico,. In England Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day, but apart from the serving of pancakes and occasional pancake races and football matches (see Royal Shrovetide Football), little else of Carnival survived the Reformation. 65 in Canada,.

The rich people of Aalborg then had to give some money for the needy. 336 in the United States and Puerto Rico,. In the boat there were sailors and around it and there were musicians walking with collecting boxes. At the local museum, there is evidence which shows that this tradition dates back to 1895, when the Shipmasters' Association arranged parades through the streets of Aalborg. This has its origin in a thousand year old tradition, which is well known in Northern Jutland.

Every year a boat - Carrus Navalis - is pulled through the streets of Aalborg. At the carnival in Aalborg, the spring is praised by a local samba group Poco Loco, which will enlighten the streets with joyful dance, music and colourful costumes in the streets. For example, many people have taken inspiration from South American samba rhythms, so there now are many colourful samba dancers in Aalborg's parade. The Aalborg Carnival parade presents several different carnival traditions apart from welcoming the spring.

Every year lots of interesting carnival groups from around the world visit Aalborg to participate in this extraordinary event. The invited groups are competing to be announced as the carnival band of the year. On Friday and Saturday the stage is set for the Battle of Carnival Bands. On the day before the big carnival, The Battle of Carnival Bands is an exciting and colourful evening with processions through the city where all the participating groups compete to be the leading carnival group.

The Carnival ends with a grand firework display on the harbour. There will be music and dancing in the park all day long and plenty of possibilities to meet interesting people. The King then leads the entire parade to"Kildeparken," a park situated in the centre of town. The two parades meet at the harbor to honor the King of the Carnival, who is elected each year.

A group of decorated boats sails the channel going through town. Besides the parade in the streets there is a parade on the water. You do not have to sign up anywhere; you just join the parade at one of the four starting-points. In other words, the town is transformed into a gigantic theatre with you and the people as the performers, the street as the stage and the body as a dancing sculpture.

What distinguishes the Carnival in Aalborg from most other carnivals, however, is the possibility of joining the parade without being part of a professional group or an authorised samba-dancer. professional troops from England, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Chile, Bulgaria and Bolivia participates. The Big Carnival begins with a huge parade. The theme for Aalborg Carnival 2004 was for instance Atlantis.

Every year the participants create their costumes according to a different theme. There are usually about 25.000 people participating in the big carnival parade every year, and more than 75.000 spectators take their places along the route to catch a glimpse of this magnificent wave of people, colours and happiness giving homage to spring and fantasy. The Big Carnival, Children's Carnival And Battle of Carnival Bands. During the carnival there are three major events:.

The carnival takes place in the end of May. The carnival in Aalborg parade is one of the largest in Northern Europe. Aalborg has been the host of a surprisingly large carnival for many years. The Bogotá Carnival has had to wait until the XXI century to be resurrected, this time, by the authorities of the city.

In modern times, there have been attempts to introduce the carnival in the capital, Bogotá, in the early XX century, but it has always failed to gain the approval of authorities. The result was the uninterrupted celebration of carnival festivals in Barranquilla (Barranquilla Carnival), and other villages along the lower Magdalena River in northern Colombia, and in Pasto, Nariño (Blacks and Whites Carnival), in the south of the country. The carnival, therefore, continued its evolution and re-interpretation in the small and at that time unimportant towns where celebrations did not offend the ruling elites. There is documentary evidence that the carnival existed in Colombia in the XVIII century and had already caused concerned to the colonial authorities, who censored the celebrations, especially in the mains centers of power such as Cartagena, Bogotá and Popayán.

Although, it was introduced by the Spaniards and has incorporated elements from the European cultures, it has managed to syncretise or to re-interpret traditions that belonged to the African and Amerindian cultures of Colombia. These provide a cool down from the previous five days of hectic partying, parades and competitions, and are usually attended by the whole family. The most populated being Maracas beach and Manzanilla beach, where huge beach parties take place every Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday itself, whilst not an official holiday, is marked by most by visiting the various beaches that abound both Trinidad and Tobago.

This parading and revelry usually goes on into the night of the Tuesday. Also taking place on this day is the crowning of the Road March king or queen, where the singer of the most played song over the two days of the carnival is crowned winner, complete with prize money and usually a vehicle. After following a route where various judging points are located, the mas bands eventually converge on the Queen's Park Savannah to pass "on the stage" to be judged once and for all. Here the street parade and eventual crowning of the best bands take place.

Each band has their costume presentation based on a particular theme, and contain various sections (some consisting of thousands of revellers) which reflect these themes. On this day full costume is worn complete with make up and body paints/adornments. Carnival Tuesday is when the main events of the carnival take place. Also on Carnival Monday, Monday Night Mas is popular in most towns and especially the capital, where smaller bands participate in competition.

Here revellers wear only parts of their costumes, and the purpose of the day is more one of fun than display or competition. Carnival Monday involves the parade of the mas bands, but on a casual or relaxed scale. Here also, a king and queen of the J'ouvert are chosen, based on their representation of current political/social events/issues. A common character to be seen at this time are "Jab-jabs" (devils, either blue, black or red) complete with pitch fork, pointed horns and tails.

Here revellers dress in old clothes and cover themselves in mud, oil paint and body paint. It means "goodbye to the flesh" or "welcome to daybreak" (depending on the interpretation). J'ouvert, or "Dirty Mas", takes place before dawn on the Monday (known as Carnival Monday) before Ash Wednesday. These usually involve huge, complex, beautiful costumes.

Also the King and Queen of the bands are crowned, where each band to parade costumes for the next two days submits a king and queen, from which an overall winner is chosen. Here the Calypso Monarch is chosen (after competition) and prize money and a vehicle bestowed. "Dimanche Gras" takes place on the Sunday night before Ash Wednesday. Music styles associated with Carnival include soca, calypso, and steelpan.

Carnival is a festive time of costumes, dance, music, competitions, rum, and partying (also referred to as feting). In Trinidad, Carnival is a holiday season that lasts over a month and culminates in large celebrations in Port of Spain on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday with Dimanche Gras, J'ouvert, and Mas (masquerade). Curaçao, Barbados, and Saint Thomas are also known for lengthy carnival seasons and large celebrations. The largest and most well-known celebration is held in Trinidad.

Most of the islands in the Caribbean celebrate carnival. A trio elétrico is an adapted truck, with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as Axé music and Maracatu. In some cities of the Northeastern Region, there is another form of the Brazilian Carnival: the Trio Elétrico. The main festivity in Brazilian Carnival takes place in Rio de Janeiro, with its samba schools, blocos and bandas which occupy entire neighbourhoods.

It is often viewed as one of the world's last "authentic" cultural celebrations. It takes place on the Saturday and Sunday before Ash Wednesday. The parade is celebrated every day from morning until late night (18 hours a day). The groups dress up as demons, Satans, angels, Incas and Spanish conquerors.

The carnival is celebrated in a parade of over 50 dance groups that dance, play and sing over a 5 km long course. The carnival is being celebrated in honor of the Saint patroness of the miners - Virgen de Socavon (the tunnel's virgin). One of the most authentic carnivals in South America is La Diablada carnival, which takes place in the city of Oruro, in central Bolivia. Oruro's Diablada is a popular back-packing destination.

For this reason it does not observe the lunar based Easter celebration but is fixed instead to the last days of January and first days of February of the solar calendar. It depends a lot on good snowfalls and very cold weather, to keep snowy ski trails in good condition and the many ice sculptures intact. The Quebec City Winter Carnival is the biggest winter-themed carnival in the world. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, is a well-known pride parade.

Places especially noted for elaborate Carnival celebrations include Aalborg in Denmark, 's-Hertogenbosch, Maastricht in the Netherlands, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz in Germany's Rhineland, Portugal, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife and Olinda in Brazil, Barranquilla and Pasto in Colombia, Port of Spain in Trinidad, Santiago in Cuba, Venice in Italy, Nice in France, New Orleans (see New Orleans Mardi Gras), Brooklyn, New York and Mobile, Alabama in the USA, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Cádiz in Spain, Aalst, Binche, Eupen, Hasselt and Malmédy in Belgium. Rome has always been the headquarters of carnival, and though some popes, notably Clement IX and XI and Benedict XIII, made efforts to stem the tide of Bacchanalian revelry, many of the popes were great patrons and promoters of carnival-keeping. Some believe that this period of license represents the kind of compromise the church tended to make with pagan festivals and that carnival really represents the Roman Saturnalia. In ancient times, carnival was held to begin on 6th January and lasted until midnight of Shrove Tuesday.

Later on, the processions were devoted to Patron-saints, the two most prominent being the virgin Mary or the Saint the local church was christened to. This is usually done with processions, where the participants wore horrible masks, and where everyone that could would make loud noises and music with whatever was available. The festival was linked to the beginning of spring, and the idea behind Carnival was to scare evil spirits away. prominent in Switzerland probably predates Christianity.

Another theory, esp. Historians think that this spirit was transmitted to the Carnival. In the later Roman period, these festivals were characterized by wanton raillery and unbridled freedom, and were in a manner a temporary subversion of civil order. It is sometimes said that this festival came from Saturnalia, Saturn's festival, and Lupercalia[1].

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. It sometimes lasts until Piñata Weekend, the first Saturday and Sunday of Lent. The celebration of Carnival ends on "Mardi Gras" (French for "Fat Tuesday", meaning Shrove Tuesday), the day before Ash Wednesday, when the rigours of Lent's 40 days of fasting and sacrifice begin.

This period of celebration and partying had its origin in the need to use up all remaining meat and animal products such as eggs and butter before the fasting season. Most commonly the season began on Septuagesima, the third from the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, but in some places it started as early as Twelfth Night, continuing until Lent. (Or, of course, farewell to the flesh, letting go of the earthly or bodily self) Yet another theory states that it originates from the Latin carrus navalis, which was some kind of Greek cart carrying a statue of a god in a religious procession at the annual festivities in honour of the god Apollo. It has also been claimed that it comes from the Latin words caro (meat) and vale (farewell), hence "Farewell to meat".

The most commonly known theory states that the name comes from the Italian carne- or carnovale, from Latin carnem (meat) + levare (lighten or raise), literally "to remove the meat" or "stop eating meat". The origin of the name "Carnival" is unclear as there are several theories. The Carnival Season is a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fast of Lent. Most Protestant and non-Christian areas do not celebrate it, with some Fundamentalist Protestant groups condemning the celebration, although the word carnival has passed into the vernacular and taken on secular meanings in most areas of the Western world.

Carnival is traditionally a Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Christian Orthodox celebration. A carnival is a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party, generally during the Carnival Season. For other meanings, please see Carnival (disambiguation).. Italic text: You might also be looking for the circus.