VENICE CARNIVAL 2009
With a two-week series of processions, masquerades, traditional ceremonies, music and all-round festivities among the canals, squares and palaces of this ancient city, the Venice Carnival is the highlight of the city’s year.
St Mark’s square, the theatres and the famous campi burst into life with musical, theatrical, acrobatic and dance performances. The whole city is filled with revellers from all over the world, and for those with a more aristocratic bent, there are dozens of masked balls, brunches in period costume and gala dinners to attend.
The carnival, with its attendant tradition of mask-wearing, has existed in some form or another since the 13th century. The masks themselves - along with the traditional bauto (hood and cape), tabarro (cloak) and tricorn hat - were favoured because they conferred complete anonymity on their wearers.
Every year the event is inspired by a new theme, which in 2009 is "Sensation". Inspired by the senses, this edition invites visitors to discover, see, feel, touch, smell and taste the city and its six districts.
History
The Carnival of Venice (in Italian: Carnevale Di Venezia) was first recorded in 1268.
Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival; traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St.Stephen’s Day, December 26) at the start of the carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday. They have always been around Venice. As masks were also allowed during Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise. Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild.
In 1797, Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Austrians took control of the city on January 18,1798 and it fell into a decline which also effectively brought carnival celebrations to a halt for almost two centuries.
Carnival was outlawed by the fascist government in the 1930s. It was not until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1980s that Carnival enjoyed a revival.
Carnival starts around two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday.
