Bucket List Destinations – February - Carnival time
Venice is often cited as the original Carnival as we know it. Meaning ‘farewell to meat’, Carnevale celebrates the last few feasting days prior to the traditional forty fasting days of Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, the day after Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Venice knows how to celebrate in style and their carnival stretches for over two weeks, offering a unique opportunity to dress as an eighteenth century noble, complete with mask. The mask is important as it allowed people of all social statuses to mix during the carnival. It’s possible to hire extravagant outfits when in Venice – after all, if you happen to be lucky enough to afford tickets to one of the many balls that are a feature of Carnevale then you must certainly make the effort to look the part! If you’re more of a spectator than a partaker then this is a fabulous time to see this magical city harking back to the days of Casanova, with costumes, parades, musical performances and regatta throughout the city.
For something a little more contemporary, the musical epicentre New Orleans has taken carnival to heart. In fairness, they've also been celebrating since the 1700's but this has evolved into the current format with huge parades led by Krewes – the most historic parades include Rex, the King of Carnival, Proteus and Zulu. The largest parades are Endymion on the Saturday before Mardi Gras and Bacchus on the Sunday before Mardi Gras. However, there’s a parade for everyone and each neighbourhood in the area will be celebrating, so it’s worth doing your homework on parade dates and routes. It’s not all about drinking and partying – there are plenty of family-friendly options as this isn’t just for the tourists – all of the Krewes are privately operated and they usually herald from the local area themselves. If you’re in the market for collecting ‘throws’ – beads, cups and other trinkets – make sure you take a large bag for your haul and take a flag or sign so the parade can spot you’re from out of town – they appreciate those who make the effort!
For the ultimate in Carnival celebrations it just has to be Rio! Around 2 million people flock to the streets to watch more than 200 samba schools strut their stuff in parades. The samba schools will have been practising all year as they are being judged on their music, dancing, costumes and floats of course, which will have been built by their community. In turn, the samba schools’ deep neighbourhood connections help support their local community economically. The event is so popular that in 1984 the city built the Sambadrome, which can accommodate up to 80,000 people, to cope with numbers and provide better viewing – the most popular parades are now ticketed events. This doesn’t stop the fun from spilling over into the streets, where you will find the local ‘bandas’ encourage everyone to join in with the dancing.
Whatever your tastes, carnival time is about letting your hair down and partying – tourists and locals alike – so choose your costume and let’s go!