Carnival is traditionally the feast or season of rejoicing before Lent, observed in Catholic countries with much revelry and merriment. The name comes from Low Latin carnelevamen for carnis levamen, solace of the flesh or body, feasting permitted in anticipation of any fast. Carnival observances declined greatly by 1900, but in some of the cities of Italy, especially Rome, Milan, and Naples, were still a great popular festival, as well as in some parts of Germany and by the later part of the 20th century the greatest carnivals were held in Brazil and the West Indian islands. Some have thought the carnival mainly a survival of the pagan Saturnalia of the Romans, which it much resembles in many of the usages, and in the tricks and mummeries with which it abounds. Research Carnival
Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of their saviour, Jesus Christ. The festival we now call Christmas was adopted from earlier pagan winter solstice celebrations celebrating the sun, including the Roman festival of Saturnalia celebrated from December the 17th to the 24th; Celtic Yuletide which was a twelve-day long festival of feasting around November/December; the Roman New Year celebrated on January the first when lights and greenery were used to decorate houses in celebration of the birth of the undying sun, and presents were given to children and the poor. Other elements of modern Christmas celebrations are also adopted from earlier pagan celebrations: the Christmas tree as a fir tree originates with the Oak tree that was sacred to Odin in Norse and Germanic tradition, and which was replaced by the fir tree declared to be sacred to Jesus by St Boniface in Germany in the 8th century. Mistletoe and holly were sacred to the Druids who used them as decorations in their winter solstice celebrations to the sun around mid-December.
Christmas was first celebrated around the 2nd century on two dates depending upon church; the Roman catholic church adopting December the 25th and some other churches adopting January the 6th which around the 5th century became Epiphany. Christmas day was officially transferred to the 25th of December by Julius I, who died in 352. The Puritans suppressed Christmas celebrations in Britain and America on the justifiable grounds of their pagan origins, however since the 18th century when the first Christmas cards were produced by the company of Goodall of London in 1862, peoples of many cultures, including Jews have celebrated Christmas in a variety of religious, pagan and other ways, with today the Jehova's Witnesses being the only major Christian objectors to the celebration of Christmas - on the perfectly correct grounds that it is a pagan festival, and the irrefutable evidence suggests that Jesus was not born on December the 25th or even in the month of December.
Complaints about the commercialisation of Christmas are not new. In the 19th century Charles Dickens character 'Ebeneazer Scrooge' in the novel 'A Christmas Carol' complains that Christmas is a 'humbug' or in other words a con or a rip off, a sentiment widely echoed by shoppers in Britain at the end of the 20th century. Research Christmas
Fairs were periodical meetings of persons having goods or wares for sale in an open market held at a particular place, and generally for the transaction of a particular class of business. The origin of fairs is obviously to be traced to the convenience of bringing together at stated times the buyers and sellers of tlie stock-produce of a district. In Europe the numerous festivals of the church afforded the most favourable opportunity for the establishment of these markets. This association is indicated in the German name of a fair, which is identical with that used for the ceremony of the mass.
In the middle ages fairs were of great importance, and were specially privileged and chartered by princes and magistrates, public proclamation being made of their commencement and duration. By the late 19th century and start of the 20th century, facilities of communication much diminished the necessity for periodical markets, and by about 1900 it was chiefly amongst agriculturists that they were of much importance, large agricultural meetings being held in various districts for the sale of cattle and horses, and for the exhibition of agricultural implements. By the end of the 20th century, these fairs also had lost importance and died out. There were also, especially in Scotland, a considerable number of hiring fairs for farm-servants.
In many places the old fair-days are still kept, but are now merely an assemblage of rides and amusements. Amongst the fairs which were once celebrated saturnalia, may be mentioned Donnybrook Fair in the county of Dublin; Bartholomew and GreenwichFairs, London; and Glasgow Fair.
The Feast of Fools was the name given to festivals regularly celebrated, from the 5th to the 16th century, in several countries of Europe, by the clergy and laity, with the most absurd ceremonies. The feast of fools was an imitation of the Roman Saturnalia, and, like this, was celebrated in December. The chief celebration fell upon the day of the Innocents, or upon New-year's Day;
but the feast continued from Christmas to the last Sunday of Epiphany. The young people, who played the chief parts, chose from among their own number a mock pope, archbishop, bishop, or abbot, and consecrated him, with many ridiculous ceremonies, in the chief church of the place. They often travestied the performance of the highest offices of the church, while others, dressed in different kinds of masks and disguises, engaged in indecent songs and dances, and practised all possible follies in the church. Except from their association with the Saturnalia nothing is known of the origin of these extravagancies, which appear to have been very ancient. They were most common in France, but the feast was also observed in Spain, Germany, England, and Scotland. In France it survived until the year 1644. Research Feast of Fools
Saturnalia was the ancient Roman festival of the god Saturnus. It was held in the middle of December from the 17th to the 19th and later until the 24th, and was originally a rustic harvest-home. It was a time of general holiday and merry-making and of the interchange of presents between friends, and the streets were full of joyous crowds, dressed not in formal toga, but in a loose robe called a synthesis. Research Saturnalia
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Carnival
