162 Fun Facts About Carnival

The word 'carnival' is usually traced to a Late Latin phrase meaning what?

Carne levare means 'remove meat': Lent's fasting rules banned meat, so the days before Ash Wednesday were the last chance to eat it up.

According to Guinness World Records, which city's carnival is the largest in the world?

Rio de Janeiro holds the Guinness record: its street carnival puts around two million people a day on the streets, on top of the Sambadrome parades.

Which pope decided that the Lenten fast would begin on Ash Wednesday?

Gregory reigned from 590 to 604, so the pre-Lent blowout has had a fixed finish line for over 1,400 years.

In the Rhineland, the first modern carnival parade was held in Cologne in which year?

The first Rosenmontag parade rolled through Cologne in 1823, the year the Festkomitee Kölner Karneval was founded to put the festivities in order.

Which Belgian town's carnival is famous for its Gilles, performers in wax masks and wooden clogs?

The Gilles of Binche parade on Shrove Tuesday; UNESCO proclaimed the Carnival of Binche a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003.

Recife's Galo da Madrugada is described as the world's largest what?

A bloco is a street parade group; this one draws well over a million revellers to central Recife on Carnival Saturday.

What is the frenetic UNESCO-listed carnival music-and-dance style of Recife and Olinda called?

Frevo, inscribed by UNESCO in 2012, pairs fast brass-band music with acrobatic steps danced while holding tiny colourful umbrellas.

Which South American country's Diablada carnival became a UNESCO Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage in 2001?

It is the Carnival of Oruro in Bolivia, whose festival centres on the Diablada devil dance and draws more than 28,000 dancers.

Which city's famous carnival was outlawed entirely in 1797, with the wearing of masks strictly forbidden?

Venice's carnival was banned in 1797 after the fall of the Venetian Republic; masks were forbidden and the festival lay dormant for nearly two centuries.

After a long absence, in which year did the Venetian carnival return?

The carnival was revived in 1979, backed by the Italian government and Venetian civic groups to restore the city's traditions; it soon drew millions of visitors each year.

Legend dates the Venetian carnival to a military victory in 1162 over the patriarch of which city?

The victory was over Ulrich II, Patriarch of Aquileia; Venetians supposedly danced in St Mark's Square, and the Republic later marked it by slaughtering a bull and twelve pigs each year.

Which Venetian mask was a small strapless black velvet oval, worn by patrician women?

The moretta was held in place by a button gripped between the teeth, so it had no mouth opening and left the wearer mute as well as anonymous.

The long-beaked Venetian plague-doctor mask originates from a 17th-century French physician named what?

Charles de Lorme, physician to Louis XIII, devised the beaked costume around 1619; the beak was stuffed with herbs and perfumes thought to filter out bad air.

Venetian mask-makers, the mascherari, had their own guild with a statute dated 10 April of which year?

The mascherari's guild statute is dated 10 April 1436; Venetians could wear masks from St Stephen's Day, 26 December, through to midnight on Shrove Tuesday.

Cologne's 'fifth season' is declared open on 11 November at precisely what time?

The 11.11 on 11/11 tradition is shared across the Rhineland, then everything goes quiet until the street carnival before Lent.

What greeting is traditionally shouted throughout Cologne's carnival?

'Kölle Alaaf' is Cologne's cry; shout Düsseldorf's 'Helau' there and you will be marked as a visitor from the rival city.

In Cologne's ruling trio, the Dreigestirn, who traditionally portrays the Jungfrau (maiden)?

The trio of Prinz, Bauer and Jungfrau is granted its titles anew every year.

Cologne's carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday night with the burning of what?

The Nubbel is a straw effigy that takes the blame for all the sins committed during the crazy days.

Roughly how many tons of candy are thrown to spectators at Cologne's Rose Monday parade each year?

Around 330 tons of Kamelle are flung from the floats, along with some 700,000 chocolate bars, 220,000 boxes of pralines and hundreds of thousands of flower bouquets.

The first Carnival festival in Rio occurred in which year?

In 1723 Portuguese immigrants brought the entrudo to Rio, a rowdy custom of throwing water, flour and mud at passers-by.

Which samba school took its record 22nd Rio championship in 2017, ending a 33-year drought?

Portela's 2017 win was its 22nd title, the most of any school; its symbol is an eagle and its colours are blue and white.

Rio's Sambadrome, the parade stadium for the samba schools, was designed by which architect?

Oscar Niemeyer designed the Sambadrome, which runs along a 700-metre stretch of Marquês de Sapucaí street and was completed in 1984.

At the 2016 Olympics, Rio's Sambadrome hosted the marathon finish and which other sport?

Archery used the Sambadrome: the long straight parade avenue made a ready-made shooting range with grandstands in place, and the marathon started and finished there too.

Founded in 1928, what was the name of Rio's first samba school?

Deixa Falar ('Let Me Speak') was founded in the Estácio district in 1928; the 'school' label supposedly came from the schoolyard where the group first rehearsed.

Which Bahian duo invented the trio elétrico at Salvador's 1950 carnival?

Dodô and Osmar drove through Salvador's 1950 carnival playing amplified guitars from an old Ford nicknamed the Fobica, the first trio elétrico.

Salvador's carnival officially lasts how many days, ending at noon on Ash Wednesday?

Salvador's carnival runs six days, from the Thursday before Lent to Ash Wednesday noon, drawing around two million revellers along its circuits.

J'ouvert, the pre-dawn start of Trinidad's two carnival days, is French for what?

J'ouvert is 'jour ouvert', break of day; revellers cover themselves in mud, oil and paint before the prettier daytime bands take over.

Trinidad's carnival dates back to the 1780s and an influx of immigrants from where?

The planters brought masquerade balls; the enslaved population answered with the Canboulay celebrations that shaped the modern festival.

Which torch-lit festival, recalling the fighting of plantation fires, fed into Trinidad's carnival?

Canboulay, from the French cannes brûlées (burnt cane), recalled enslaved gangs sent to fight cane fires; its torch-lit processions were a root of Trinidad carnival and the 1881 riots.

Which traditional Trinidad carnival character is a stilt dancer of African origin?

The Moko jumbie, a towering stilt walker of West African origin, was believed to protect villages by seeing evil coming from far away.

What were Trinidad's first steelpans hammered out of in the 1940s?

Oil drums, many left by the US naval base, were cut and hammered into tuned pans in the 1940s after earlier metal bands had used biscuit tins and dustbin lids.

The first outdoor Notting Hill festival, in 1966, was organised by whom?

Rhaune Laslett, a Notting Hill community activist, organised the 1966 outdoor fayre; she was unaware of the indoor Caribbean carnivals held in London since 1959.

Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's largest street festival, draws around two million people to London over which weekend?

The August bank holiday weekend hosts it, with around two million people turning out over the two days.

Who is thought to have brought the very first sound system to Notting Hill Carnival, in 1973?

Duke Vin, who had set up Britain's first sound system in 1955, is credited with bringing the first one to the carnival in 1973, when steel bands had been the only music.

Toronto's Caribbean Carnival began in 1967 as a gift from the Caribbean community marking what?

Caribana was launched in 1967 as the Caribbean community's gift for Canada's Centennial; its Grand Parade along Lake Shore Boulevard draws more than a million people.

Which US city claims the country's oldest official Carnival celebration, begun in 1703?

Mobile, then the capital of French Louisiana, held its first Mardi Gras in 1703, predating New Orleans's organised celebrations by more than a century.

Since 1956, which snack has been a signature throw from parade floats in Alabama's oldest carnival city?

MoonPies, the marshmallow-and-graham sandwich from Chattanooga, became Mobile's signature throw because they were soft enough to toss safely into the crowds.

Which secret society, formed in 1856, staged New Orleans's first organised Mardi Gras parade in 1857?

The Mistick Krewe of Comus, formed in 1856 by young men with roots in Mobile's societies, staged a torch-lit night parade with floats on Mardi Gras 1857.

In which year did Louisiana declare Mardi Gras a legal holiday?

Louisiana's legislature passed the Mardi Gras Act in 1875, making Fat Tuesday a legal state holiday.

The Krewe of Zulu is famous for handing out which prized decorated throw?

Zulu's hand-decorated coconuts are recorded as far back as 1910, when they were handed out in their natural hairy state.

New Orleans's Carnival season opens each year on which date?

That is Twelfth Night, or Epiphany, and the season runs until midnight before Ash Wednesday.

The first carriers of the flambeaux, the flaming torches that light New Orleans night parades, were whom?

The first flambeaux carriers were enslaved people and free men of colour; spectators have long tossed coins to the carriers as they dance and spin the torches.

What small object is traditionally hidden inside a Mardi Gras king cake?

The plastic baby symbolises the infant Jesus, hidden in the cinnamon-swirl ring that is iced in purple, green and gold.

Whoever finds the hidden figure in a king cake is traditionally expected to do what?

Buying next year's cake counts too, so the tradition conveniently renews itself.

In the Mardi Gras colour scheme, purple stands for what?

Purple stands for justice, green for faith and gold for power, meanings assigned in the 1892 'Symbolism of Colors' parade; king cakes are dusted with all three.

The Gilles, the clown-like stars of a Belgian carnival, throw what to (and sometimes at) the crowd?

The blood oranges are considered a gift and a blessing, though shop windows along the route are boarded up against the throwing.

The huge hats worn by the Gilles on Shrove Tuesday afternoon are adorned with the feathers of which bird?

The towering hats are made of white ostrich plumes and come out only on Shrove Tuesday afternoon, weather permitting; the Gilles rent them for the day.

In Ivrea's carnival food fight, townspeople on foot pelt teams riding in what?

Nine foot teams pelt orange-throwers riding in horse-drawn carts; the battle re-enacts a medieval revolt against a tyrannical lord.

The long-nosed, floppy-eared Marimondas are the most popular costume at which country's biggest carnival?

The Marimonda is the emblem of Colombia's Carnival of Barranquilla, which UNESCO proclaimed a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage in 2003.

Barranquilla's carnival ends citywide with the burial of which character?

Joselito Carnaval, the personification of the festivities, 'dies' of excess on Tuesday and is mourned by weeping widows, a local counterpart to Spain's Burial of the Sardine.

The Carnival of Oruro is held in honour of the Virgen del Socavón, the Virgin of the what?

Socavón means mineshaft: the Virgin of the Mineshaft is the patroness of Oruro's miners, and the procession ends at her sanctuary built over an old mine entrance.

Bonhomme, the snowman mascot of the Quebec Winter Carnival, wears a red toque and what else?

The ceinture fléchée is an arrowed sash, a traditional woven belt of French Canada; Bonhomme has worn it with his red toque since his debut at the first modern carnival.

What hot alcoholic drink is traditionally drunk to keep warm at the Quebec Winter Carnival?

Caribou is a mix of red wine and spirits such as whisky, often sweetened with maple syrup, sold in a plastic cane at the carnival.

The earliest record of the Nice Carnival, from 1294, came from which count?

Charles wrote of passing 'the joyous days of carnival' there, making it one of the oldest carnivals in the world; by the 2010s it drew over a million visitors in two weeks.

What is thrown in the famous 'battles' staged on Nice's Promenade des Anglais during carnival?

Costumed performers on floats throw thousands of mimosa, lilies and gerberas into the crowd.

Basel's Fasnacht, Switzerland's biggest carnival, lasts exactly how many hours?

The 72 hours run from the Morgestraich at 4 am on the Monday after Ash Wednesday, when the city lights go out, to 4 am on Thursday.

Basel's Cliques march through the old town playing the Basler drum and which other instrument?

The Cliques play piccolos and Basler drums; the carnival was added to UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list in 2017.

What is the best-known call of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht, shouted by masked figures at bystanders?

'Narri-Narro' is the call-and-response of the Narren, the masked fools whose carved wooden masks are known as Larven.

In Denmark's Fastelavn barrel game, whoever knocks out the barrel's bottom earns which title?

Knocking out the bottom makes you kattedronning, queen of cats; whoever fells the last piece is king of cats. Centuries ago a live cat was inside the barrel.

Aalborg Carnival, the largest in Scandinavia, is held in Denmark during the last week of which month?

Aalborg's carnival fills the last week of May; its three main events are the Grand Parade, the Battle of Carnival Bands and the Children's Carnival.

The Busójárás, a UNESCO-listed carnival of masked busós in Mohács, takes place in which country?

Mohács is in southern Hungary; legend says townspeople hiding in the swamps under Ottoman rule scared the Turks away in monstrous masks, and UNESCO listed the Busójárás in 2009.

The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, held each February or March, takes place in which Spanish archipelago?

The Canary Islands host it in Santa Cruz, capital of the largest island, where candidates for Queen of the Carnival parade in costumes that can weigh up to 100 kilograms.

Which singer's 1987 Tenerife carnival concert, attended by 250,000, entered the Guinness Book of Records?

Celia Cruz, backed by Billo's Caracas Boys, drew around 250,000 people in 1987, then a Guinness record for the largest crowd at an outdoor plaza concert.

Which figure, usually a local resident, presides over Goa's four-day carnival?

King Momo, played by a local resident, opens the parade and orders his subjects to eat, drink and make merry; the carnival is a Portuguese colonial legacy in Goa.

Which avenue of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair named the sideshow-and-rides area at US fairs?

The Midway Plaisance, the fair's mile-long strip of games of chance, freak shows, Wild West shows and the original Ferris Wheel, gave its name to the carnival midway.

How many traveling carnivals were touring the United States in 1902?

Just 17 carnivals were on the road in 1902; the count rose to 46 by 1905 and to an estimated 300 by 1937.

Each of the 36 cars on the original 1893 Ferris Wheel could carry up to how many people?

Each car held 40 seated and 20 standing riders, 60 in all; the wheel was Chicago's answer to the Eiffel Tower and was dynamited in 1906 after a second life in St. Louis.

Pancakes became the Shrove Tuesday dish as a practical way of using up what before the fasting of Lent?

Surplus eggs, milk and butter went into the batter before Lent; the name comes from 'shrive', to give absolution, so the day was for confession as well as frying.

The Olney pancake race is said to date from a housewife running to church, pan in hand, in which year?

The legend dates the race to 1445; since 1950 Olney has competed against Liberal, Kansas, comparing times across the Atlantic.

On Fettisdagen, Sweden's Fat Tuesday, people eat which almond-paste-filled sweet roll?

The semla is a cardamom bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream; bakeries sell them from January onwards in the run-up to Lent.

Which three days make up the Shrovetide season that closes with Carnival?

Shrovetide runs Shrove Sunday (Quinquagesima), Shrove Monday and Shrove Tuesday, the last days before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

What do many churches burn on Shrove Tuesday to make the next day's ashes?

Baskets in the narthex collect the blessed palms during Shrovetide.

Which Roman festival in early March is one proposed origin of the word carnival?

The Navigium Isidis, held on 5 March, opened the sailing season by carrying an image of Isis to the shore on a carrus navalis, a ship-cart some link to 'carnival'.

Which Germanic fertility goddess may have been paraded on a wheeled ship in early spring rites?

Tacitus wrote that Nerthus's cart and vestments were washed in a secret lake by slaves who were then drowned; some link her procession to ship-cart carnival rites.

Which 13th-century French poem stages an allegorical fight between Carnival and Lent?

La bataille de Caresme et de Charnage pits Lent (Caresme) against Meat-eating (Charnage) in mock-epic combat, one of the earliest literary traces of the Carnival-versus-Lent theme.

Which Shakespeare play mentions Christians painting their faces for the Carnival season?

In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock warns Jessica not to gaze on 'Christian fools with varnished faces' during the masque, a nod to Venice's masked revels.

Which 742 church council condemned pagan February excesses in the Indiculus superstitionum?

Leptines lies near Binche in Belgium, itself famous for Carnival.

Which pope stopped the forced naked races of Jews at Rome's Carnival and replaced them with a tax?

Clement IX ended the races in 1668, substituting an annual payment from Rome's Jews; Paul II had instituted the races in 1466.

The Venetian carnival's Volo dell'Angelo sees a performer descend on a wire from which tower?

The Volo dell'Angelo sends a costumed 'angel' down a wire from St Mark's Campanile into the Piazza, reviving a stunt recorded since the 16th century.

Which historian of religion described new-year festivals as repeating "the passage of chaos to the cosmogony"?

Eliade saw a deep human need to regenerate by abolishing elapsed time.

Which Cape Verdean island's Carnival was captured in the award-winning documentary Tchindas?

Tchindas follows Tchinda Andrade and her friends building floats for the carnival of Mindelo on São Vicente, the island known as Cape Verde's carnival capital.

Namibia's Carnival tradition was introduced by settlers from which country?

Settlers from Germany brought it: the Windhoek Karneval, known as WIKA, follows the Rhineland style with a carnival prince and princess and comic speeches.

Which Argentine city in Entre Ríos Province hosts the country's most important Carnival?

Gualeguaychú's Carnaval del País runs on Saturday nights through January and February in a purpose-built corsódromo.

Barbados's sugar-harvest festival, later revived as a Carnival, began in which year?

The festival is traced to 1688; it marked the end of the sugar-cane harvest with music from shak-shak, banjo, triangle and fiddle.

Which Oruro carnival dance is said to portray enslaved Africans marched to the mines?

The Morenada's heavy masks and rattling matracas are said to evoke the chains and shuffling of enslaved Africans marched to the mines of Upper Peru.

Brazil's first Carnival-style festivities, the préstitos of 1641, marked the coronation of which king?

The 1641 préstitos in Rio celebrated the acclamation of John IV of Portugal, who had restored Portuguese independence from Spain the year before.

Which Colombian city hosts the Blacks and Whites' Carnival each January?

Pasto, capital of Nariño, stages the Carnaval de Negros y Blancos from 2 to 7 January; UNESCO inscribed it in 2009.

What are the devil-costumed characters of the Dominican Republic's Carnival called?

The Diablos Cojuelos ('limping devils') wear mirrored masks and whack passers-by with inflated bladders; La Vega and Santo Domingo host the biggest celebrations.

Ecuador's Ambato Carnival is known as the festival of what?

Ambato's Festival of Flowers and Fruits (Fiesta de las Flores y de las Frutas) began in 1951 after the 1949 earthquake, celebrating the city's orchards with flower-covered floats.

Port-au-Prince's Kanaval is said to have started in which year?

Kanaval in Port-au-Prince is said to date from 1804, the year Haiti declared independence; the rara parading season follows on Ash Wednesday.

Which Honduran city holds Central America's largest Carnival, in May for San Isidro?

La Ceiba's Gran Carnaval honours San Isidro Labrador with a parade down Avenida San Isidro on the third or fourth Saturday of May.

Which two Mexican cities host the country's largest Carnivals?

Mazatlán and Veracruz stage Mexico's biggest carnivals; Mazatlán's modern carnival dates from 1898 and Veracruz's from 1925.

What are Panama's Carnival water-truck soakings called?

The culecos are repurposed water-tanker trucks that hose down the crowds through the midday heat of the four-day festival.

Which small Panamanian town is the country's most famous Carnival destination?

Las Tablas, in Los Santos province, is famed for the rivalry between its Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo queens; the Carnival days are a national holiday.

Which town is considered the capital of Carnival in Peru?

Cajamarca is billed as Peru's carnival capital; residents dance around the unsha, a tree hung with ribbons, toys and bottles, until it is chopped down.

Uruguay's Carnival, lasting over 40 days, features which parade of candombe drum groups?

The Desfile de Llamadas brings comparsas of candombe drummers through Montevideo's Sur and Palermo districts; murgas perform on tablado stages across the city.

Which Croatian city's mayor hands the keys of the city to the Carnival master?

In Rijeka the mayor hands the city keys to Meštar Toni; the Kvarner Zvončari ring bells to chase off winter and a Pust doll is burned for the year's ills.

Cyprus's Carnival is celebrated almost exclusively in which city?

Limassol's carnival, with its Grand Parade, is the island's only major one; the tradition likely dates to Venetian rule in the 16th century.

What is the fastelavnsris used for in Denmark's Fastelavn?

Children flog their parents awake with the fastelavnsris, a bundle of twigs decorated with feathers and sweets, on Fastelavn Sunday morning.

Which French port's Carnival grew from fishermen's farewells before sailing to Icelandic waters?

Dunkirk's carnival grew from the vischerbende, fishermen's farewell bands that went from café to café before the months-long cod voyages to Iceland.

What is the Greek Carnival season called?

Apókries means 'goodbye to meat'; the three-week season includes meat week and cheese week before Lent opens on Clean Monday.

What is Tsiknopémpti, a highlight of the Greek Carnival's Kreatiní week?

After the following Sunday, meat is forbidden until Easter.

Which Greek city holds the country's largest Carnival, with the famous Bourboúlia ball?

Patras hosts Greece's biggest carnival; at its Bourboúlia dances women wear black robe-like dómino costumes and masks to hide their identity.

Which Greek town holds a phallus festival at Carnival, rewarding women with tsipouro?

Tyrnavos in Thessaly holds the Bourani on Clean Monday, parading giant model phalluses; visitors are made to drink tsipouro from phallus-shaped cups.

In the Ambrosian rite around Milan, Carnival ends on which day?

Milan's Carnevale Ambrosiano runs to Sabato Grasso, the Saturday after Ash Wednesday, because Ambrosian-rite Lent only begins on the following Sunday.

Ivrea's Battle of the Oranges commemorates an uprising sparked by which figure?

La Mugnaia, the miller's daughter Violetta, allegedly beheaded the tyrant who claimed the right to her wedding night; a bean soup, fagiolata, is served during the carnival.

Which Grand Master introduced Carnival to Malta in 1535?

Grand Master Piero de Ponte allowed the Knights' carnival in 1535; Maltese Carnival has since featured grotesque mask contests and King Carnival's float parade.

Which two southern Dutch provinces are the heartland of carnaval?

North Brabant and Limburg, the Catholic south, keep traditions such as Prince Carnival, a Council of Eleven and herring-eating on Ash Wednesday.

Where in the Netherlands is carnaval first documented, in 1383?

's-Hertogenbosch, where carnival is called Oeteldonk, holds the 1383 record and also the oldest known images of Dutch carnival, from 1485.

Which Portuguese Carnival is described as "the most Portuguese in Portugal"?

Torres Vedras bills its carnival as 'o mais português de Portugal'; its floats and matrafonas (men in drag) satirise society and politics.

Which Portuguese village's Carnival is famous for the Caretos, masked figures in fringed costumes?

Podence, in Trás-os-Montes, is home to the Caretos, young men in fringed woollen suits and tin masks; UNESCO inscribed the tradition in 2019.

Which food symbolising the sun is essential to Russia's Maslenitsa?

Bliny, round and golden like the sun, use the butter, eggs and milk allowed in the week before Great Lent.

Which fluffy, demon-like figure is the star of Slovenia's Ptuj carnival?

The Kurent, in sheepskin with a long red tongue and cowbells at its belt, is said to chase away winter; Ptuj's Kurentovanje is named for it.

What is the theme song a Rio samba school composes for each year's parade called?

Each school's samba-enredo sets its annual theme (enredo) to music and is sung by the puxador for the whole parade.

What is the name of the choreographed group that opens each samba school's parade?

The comissão de frente, ten to fifteen performers, opens the parade with a short choreographed story; the first float, the abre-alas, follows.

Which pair leads the dancers behind a samba school's opening float?

The mestre-sala (master of the room) escorts the porta-bandeira as she carries the school's flag; their dance is a judged item, and schools field second and third couples.

In what year was Rio's samba parade moved to the Marquês de Sapucaí Avenue?

The parades moved to Marquês de Sapucaí in 1978, six years before Niemeyer's permanent Sambadrome opened along the same avenue in 1984.

Which Rio samba school parades in green and pink?

Mangueira's green and pink are Rio's most recognisable samba-school colours, celebrated in the 1956 samba 'Exaltação à Mangueira'.

Which Russian Grand Duke's 1872 visit prompted New Orleans businessmen to found Rex?

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, son of Tsar Alexander II, toured the US in 1872 and reached New Orleans for Mardi Gras, where Rex was created to greet him.

What is Rex's official song, adopted because the Grand Duke admired the actress who sang it?

'If Ever I Cease to Love' came from the burlesque Bluebeard, in which Lydia Thompson sang it; the Duke's fondness for her made it Rex's anthem.

Who was the first Rex, King of Carnival, in 1872?

Louis Solomon (Lewis J. Salomon), a Jewish financier who helped fund the first parade, reigned as the first Rex in 1872.

Which krewe first specified purple, green and gold as the New Orleans Carnival colours?

Proclamations before its 1872 parade urged balconies be draped in the three colours.

Which two krewes, along with Orpheus, are New Orleans's celebrity-led 'super krewes'?

Endymion (1967) and Bacchus (1968) pioneered the super-krewe formula of celebrity monarchs and giant floats; Orpheus followed in 1993.

Besides beads, which coin-like items are classic New Orleans parade throws?

Doubloons are tossed alongside the beads, together with decorated plastic throw cups and small inexpensive toys.

Where in North America is the earliest king cake reference and recipe, from 1649, set?

A settler had to deliver a cake annually to the lord of Port Royal, now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

A 1094 document under which doge contains Venice's first written mention of carnival?

Doge Vitale Falier's 1094 charter holds the first written mention of carnival in Venice; the Senate made the day before Lent a public holiday in 1296.

Which Venetian mask covers the whole face with a prominent nose, jutting chin and no mouth?

The bauta's jutting chin let the wearer eat and drink without removing it; it was worn with a black tabarro cape and a tricorn hat.

Which Trinidadian journalist organised the 1959 indoor "Caribbean Carnival" that seeded Notting Hill?

Claudia Jones, founder of the West Indian Gazette, staged the January 1959 event at St Pancras Town Hall in response to the 1958 Notting Hill race riots.

Which director from 1973–75 is credited with adding sound systems and island costume bands to Notting Hill?

Leslie 'Teacher' Palmer, director from 1973 to 1975, brought in static sound systems, Trinidad-style costume bands and sponsorship, turning a local fayre into a mass carnival.

Which steelpan competition opens Notting Hill Carnival on the Saturday?

Panorama, the UK national steelband championship, is played out on the Saturday evening; Sunday is children's day and Monday the main adult parade.

At which Trinidad show, held the night before J'ouvert, is the Calypso Monarch crowned?

Dimanche Gras, on the Sunday before Lent, crowns the Calypso Monarch and the King and Queen of Carnival at the Queen's Park Savannah.

Which Spanish decree brought French West Indian settlers to Trinidad in the 1780s, seeding Carnival?

The 1783 Cédula de Población offered land to Catholic settlers; French planters, free people of colour and enslaved Africans arrived under it from the French Antilles.

Which prime minister declared the steelpan Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument in 1992?

Prime Minister Patrick Manning made the declaration in 1992; the UN later declared 11 August World Steelpan Day in 2023.

Which earlier Carnival percussion tradition did the steelpan evolve from?

Modern pans are made from 200-litre industrial drums and played with rubber-tipped sticks.

Which West African tradition is calypso's rhythm traced back to?

Kaiso, a term of West African origin, was the early name for calypso; songs were sung in French creole and led by a griot-like singer, the chantuelle.

Who created soca music in the 1970s to revive calypso?

Lord Shorty (later Ras Shorty I) blended calypso with Indian rhythms on 1973's 'Indrani'; he spelt it 'sokah' and a journalist's misspelling stuck.

Which satirical singing groups are the heart of the Carnival of Cádiz?

Chirigotas are the comic groups of the Cádiz contest, comparsas their more serious cousins; painting the face is the traditional humble substitute for a mask.

Which event opens the Barranquilla Carnival on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday?

UNESCO declared the carnival a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage in 2003.

Roughly how many spectators does the Carnival of Viareggio draw each year?

Viareggio's parades along the seafront Passeggiata draw more than 500,000 spectators across the season, with floats up to 14 metres tall.

What was Carnival Cruise Line's first ship, a converted Canadian Pacific liner, named in 1972?

The Mardi Gras, the former Empress of Canada, ran aground on a sandbar off Miami on her maiden Carnival voyage in March 1972.

Who founded Carnival Cruise Line in 1972?

Ted Arison, who had earlier co-founded Norwegian Caribbean Line with Knut Kloster, started Carnival in 1972; its whale-tail funnel is a registered trademark.

Which Carnival ship of 1996 introduced the class that ran until the 2008 Splendor?

Carnival Destiny, launched in 1996, was the first cruise ship over 100,000 gross tons; her platform was stretched through the Conquest class to the 2008 Splendor.

How tall was the original 1893 Ferris Wheel in Chicago?

It was meant to rival Paris's 1,063-foot Eiffel Tower.

Which 250-metre observation wheel opened in October 2021?

Ain Dubai on Bluewaters Island rose to 250 metres, overtaking the 167.6-metre High Roller in Las Vegas as the tallest wheel when it opened.

The word carousel comes from a French word meaning what?

Carrousel came from the Italian carosello, 'little battle', a mounted war game; 17th-century riders trained for its ring-spearing on a rotating frame of wooden horses.

Which dentist co-invented machine-spun cotton candy in 1897?

Dentist William Morrison and confectioner John C. Wharton patented the machine in 1897; at the 1904 World's Fair their Fairy Floss sold 68,655 boxes at 25 cents.

Which company's 1949 sprung base finally made cotton candy machines reliable?

Gold Medal also created the two dominant US flavours, Boo Blue and Silly Nilly.

Which immigrant community brought the yeast ancestor of the funnel cake to America?

The Pennsylvania Dutch brought the yeast-raised Drechderkuche; around 1879 they created the baking-powder version and the name funnel cake.

Which three rival amusement parks made up Coney Island's heyday?

Steeplechase Park (1897), Luna Park (1903, on the old Sea Lion Park site) and Dreamland (1904) competed until Dreamland burned in 1911.

In which three countries is Junkanoo most notably practised?

Junkanoo parades fill Nassau in the Bahamas on Boxing Day and New Year's Day; Jamaica's Jonkonnu and Belize's John Canoe are its cousins.

Which fabricated preserved specimen was a classic sideshow exhibit?

The Fiji Mermaid, a monkey's torso sewn to a fish tail, was exhibited by P.T. Barnum from 1842; sideshows also featured human blockhead and sword-swallowing acts.

Which Texas immigrant sausage-makers are credited with introducing the corn dog?

Germans who ran sausage businesses in Texas are credited with the idea; a 1926 catalogue advertised a 'Krusty Korn Dog' baker for cooking the batter-coated sausages.

Which Texas company took over manufacture of the Tilt-A-Whirl from Sellner in 2011?

Larson International of Plainview, Texas bought the Sellner company in 2011 and took over the ride, whose seven cars spin chaotically; British fairs have the similar Waltzer.

What is sprinkled on the floor of a bumper-car arena to reduce friction?

Graphite powder dusted on the steel floor lets the cars slide and spin; the first bumper-car patent, for the Dodgem, was filed in 1921.

Since which year has the Quebec Winter Carnival been held annually after decades of interruptions?

The modern carnival began in 1955 under Mayor Wilfrid Hamel, who backed it for winter tourism; the first big edition had been held in 1894.

Skee-Ball, the classic carnival-midway redemption game, was patented in 1908 by a resident of which state?

Joseph Fourestier Simpson of Vineland, New Jersey, designed the inclined lane with its 'ball-hop' hump that flips balls into the scoring rings.

Whac-A-Mole, the mallet-and-moles arcade game, was created in 1975 by the amusements manufacturer TOGO in which country?

Japan is its home, where it was originally known as Mogura Taiji, 'Mole Buster'; machines have five to eight holes with pop-up plastic moles.

The Gravitron, the fairground ride that pins riders to padded wall panels as it spins, is a modification of which earlier ride?

The Rotor is the Gravitron's ancestor; Wisdom Industries debuted the update at Morey's Piers in 1983, with 48 sliding padded panels instead of a dropping floor.

In Canada, the carnival corn dog is commonly called what, after a popular brand produced by Conagra?

Pogo is the Canadian name, borrowed from the Conagra brand; in Australia the same snack is a Pluto pup or a Dagwood dog at agricultural shows.

Which Newark confectioner is credited with inventing the red candy apple in 1908?

William W. Kolb, a Newark candy-maker, dipped apples in red cinnamon candy for a Christmas window display in 1908 and sold the batch at five cents each.

Jacques Tilly's satirical floats for Düsseldorf's Rosenmontag carnival parade, built since 1983, are sculpted from what material?

Papier-mâché is Tilly's medium, and Germany's premier float designer has used it since 1983 for sculptures carrying overt political messages and caricatures.

Together with Cologne and Düsseldorf, which city completes the trio of Rhenish carnival strongholds?

The Mainzer Fastnacht begins on 11 November and culminates in the days before Ash Wednesday.