laissez les bon temps roulez

Most of us in the United States are familiar with the holiday of Mardi Gras, if only in name and what debauchery we think must go on in New Orleans this time of year. Mardi Gras is a holiday that is celebrated in relation to the Christian holiday of Easter, so it does not have a fixed date, rather it floats, but is always a Tuesday. In the French-Cajun region of the United States, the holiday is celebrated that Tuesday and for a few weeks before. For a succinct history of Mardi Gras in la Nouvelle Orléans, see The Times-Picayune article here: http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2009/01/the_history_of_carnival.html#more

In France, however, the tradition varies. The name itself is actually different. In France, as well as in many other places in the world, the holiday celebrated is Carnaval rather than Mardi Gras. The reasoning is the same: to have one last hoorah before lent. In fact, the origins of the word point to the removal of meant. (Merriam-Webster says the etymology is as follows: Italian carnevale, alternation of earlier, carnelevare, literally, removal of meat, from carne flesh + levare to remove, from Latin, to raise)

The timing is somewhat different. When I was in France, I took a weekend trip to Nice, France to get away from the rain in Nantes and imagine my surprise when I came across a Carnaval celebration in early February! In fact, Nice (which holds the largest celebration in all of France-check out their website) started their festivities over Valentine’s Day and they will continue through Sunday, March 1st! Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday? The 24th and 25th of February. In roman times, Carnaval was called septurnales and the festival could be held at anytime between the winter solstice (mid December) and Ash Wednesday. This tradition continues today. Some cities hold their festivals early and some hold them later. When I was there, Nantes’ celebration was actually held after lent was over! I was quite confused by that.

The celebration seems to have been disconnected from it’s religious roots.

What you do see is fantastic though. (One of the floats)

It is unlike anything I have ever seen at an American parade. Check out the website for the Nice Carnaval and some of these photos that I took in Nice and Nantes in 2005 (sorry for the bad quality photos-everyone is moving all the time!). It was contentious times politically and many of the floats were designed to mock Nicolas Sarkozy, who, at the time, was just a minister in the government.

(the "merman" float)

You also get some DELICIOUS food! I had never had churros before and they had stands

(Example of a Churros Stand from zugaldia flickr cc)

set up all along the parade route making fresh churros with powdered sugar

(churros pictured here are from Gill Rickson flickr cc)

pictured here with chocolate instead and in Nice, when it was cold, they had Spanish-style hot chocolate, which is amazing. This churros and chocolate tradition is indeed a Spanish one and something that I was happy for!

Another great thing about these French celebrations is that they aren’t in the New Orleans style of debauchery. Families can go and I felt comfortable and safe there by myself. There are kids with bottles of silly string spraying everyone

If you are ever in France in the first part of the year, check with your city’s Visitors and Tourism Bureau to see if you can catch a Carnaval celebration!