Carnival or Carnaval?

Last Friday Joan did a blog on the kids and Carnival at school. Since then, a few people have asked, “What is Carnival?”

The Latin Times gathered 6 facts to help you understand this celebration better:

1. Carnival is a festive season, which occurs immediately before Lent. It typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party.
2. Carnival is traditionally held in areas with a large Catholic population.
3. Lent, the six weeks directly before Easter, was marked by fasting and other pious or penitential practices. Traditionally during Lent, no parties or other celebrations were held, and people refrained from eating rich foods, such as meat, dairy, fats and sugar. In the days before Lent, all rich food and drink had to be disposed of, so people threw a big party with the whole community to finish all of it. This is thought to be the origin of Carnival.
4. Some of the best-known traditions, including carnal parades and masquerade balls were first recorded in medieval Italy. The carnival of Venice was, for a long time, the most famous carnival.
5. From Italy, Carnival traditions spread to the Catholic nations of Spain, Portugal, and France. From France it spread to New France in North America. From Spain and Portugal it spread with Catholic colonization to the Caribbean and Latin America.
6. The exact origin of the name “Carnival” is disputed, but some state that the word comes from the Late Latin expression carne vale, which means “farewell to meat,” signifying that those were the last days when one could eat meat before the fasting of Lent.

You can read the original article in the Latin Times here: “What Is Carnival? 6 Things To Know About Festive Season”.

For the HATS kids the top reason to enjoy Carnival though is it means time off school. Of course there are chores to do when school is out before playtime and hockey.

My probation is over and I now have my “Responsible Adult” status reinstated ?. So there was play time and book reading in the devotion room for the younger kids.

There was the road trip to spend the day at Luckner and Roselore’s house and hang out with his kids. It was a full day of fun, food and fellowship…actually 2 days this week. Thank you both for the peace and quiet!! I think Karen, Joan and I enjoyed the day as much as the kids…and we stayed home!

Tifi didn’t make the trip to Papa Luckner’s Instead she had a moto ride with Magalia to go to the hospital for her doctor’s appointment.

And what is vacation time for except hanging out with family and friends.

Because it’s all about the kids!

~Keith