Let’s get dressed up ! Carnival and other European stories
The historical encyclopaedia Europe edited in French by Christophe Charle and Daniel Roche in 2018
In this encyclopaedia, you will find thousand and one articles on numerous topics : dragons, forest, nomadic life, the holy grail, feminism, India, Faust, Dracula and even the devil.
Whatever you’re eager to discover, you will satisfy your curiosity thanks to marvelous articles.
For instance, Eva Guillorel’s article on parties and carnival catched my attention.
She deserves to be quoted :
“« […], it [ party] covers in fact a larger number of practices which result from complex interactions between popular and literate cultures, religious and profane spheres, active participation and passive observation. While being a shifting and evolving reality, party shows numerous continuities and similarities. Its common ground is a break with daily rhythm and order, a collective joy where the youth plays a main part, a ritual codification linked to sacred forms and a tendency of excess, turmoil and noise”.
Where are our masks and feathers?
Without any spoil about the History of parties and carnivals in Europe related to religious and state powers, I would like to share with you Eva Guillorel’s vision of carnival:
“Carnival […] represents the peak and the quintessence of people’s party. Taking place everywhere in Europe and replicated through colonial expansion […], it involves every social group and comes from a long historical heritage, with pre-christian roots in Greece and in Roman Saturnalia. Christianized and moved in the calendar cycle to the eve of Lent – the word “carnival” means etymologically “rejection of meat” – carnival knew a successful time in the late Middle Ages and still goes on nowadays.”
As you listen to these words, you may realise this is an easy-reading encyclopaedia. Besides, it makes feel smarter on topics one’s fancies and and makes want to deeper dig in.