History of the Carnival

The term Carnival derives from the two Latin words 'carnem levare', which literally means to to take off the meat, and refers to the celebrations which precede Lent and the consequent prohibition to eat meat. 

In Venice Carnival started on 26th December with great balls given on the largest squares of the city, and from that day onwards all of the squares, San Marco square and the courts were occupied by the Venetians who dressed up with masks, danced, sang and participated to curious games. 

During this time, the Republic of Venice tolerated everything. 

Whereas during official festivals the rigorous social hierarchies were highlighted, during Carnival these were temporally hidden behind  masks.

The festivals continued until Shrove Tuesday also known as Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday, when at midnight the bells of the Church of San Francesco della Vigna knelled , to indicate the beginning of Lent, and in San Marco square the 'old lady' was burnt, a puppet effigy of the Carnival which represented the principle of liberty and disorder, which is eliminated with the symbolic burning, as to pass from chaos to order.

The Carnival festival, together with other Venetian feasts, were abolished under Austrian domination during the 1800's, but in the year 1980 it was re-established, and Carnival came back to Venice.

Nowadays Carnival takes place during the two weeks preceding Shrewd Tuesday, and on the last week San Marco square is filled with people who come to admire the beautiful masks of the eighteenth century and the traditional masks of the ' commedia dell'arte', which are joined by more unusual and original masks. 

The end of the Carnival time is still marked by the burning of the 'old woman' in San Marco square, even though this has merely become a symbolic ritual of an ancient tradition.  

Carnival has changed a lot with time, but there is one law that rules during this time which is still unvaried:

Anything goes at Carnival time!