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 The
etymology of the word "Carnival" is, still now, disputed:
perhaps from Carna -aval or carne-vale (a kind of "good-by meat"),
or from the medieval phrase "carnem-laxare" (that's to feast).
Surely, the origins of this feast are religious. We know that the masks
were used since Palaeolithic age, when the wizards, during magical rites,
wore costumes with feathers and harness-bells and painted masks, in
order to drive away the bad spirits.
However we can find the origins of our Carnival above all in the feasts
dedicated to gods in Roman age. The "Baccanales"
were feasts dedicated to Bacchus: they were placed along the streets
of the city and all the present people wore masks, drank wine and shared
in Bacchic revelries. The masks had to hide the faces of people, so
that they could give themselves up to the celebrations. Famous also
the night feast of Ceres and Proserpine, when young and
old people, plebeians and nobles could enjoy themselves all together
and freely. In March and December there were the "Saturnalia",
feasts dedicated to Saturn, god's father, which lasted seven days: the
slaves became masters, and vice versa; the "King of the feast"
elected by people, organized the games in the squares and many gladiatorial
shows entertained the public.
According to Livio, these feast began when Saturn's temple was built
(263 b.C.). Then the "Saturnalia" began more and more important:
at the beginning they lasted only three days, then seven and finally,
in imperial age, fifteen. There were also the "Opalia", feasts
dedicated to Ope, Saturn's wife, and the Sigillaria, dedicated to Giano
and Strenia. Finally the "Lupercales", feasts
of fertility, in order to remember the she-wolf that suckled Romulus
and Remus.
With the Christianity and, consequentially, the abolition
of all pagan feasts, Christian Carnival still survived, with the same
aim of care-freeness and amusement, like in pagan tradition. The Carnival
got the success during Middle Age especially for the use of the disguise,
with which it was possible to pull down the barriers of socials standings:
the rich, disguised as a poor, can act like a poor, and, on the contrary,
for the poor disguised as a rich, it was possible to enter in forbidden
places and to approach rich people.
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