March 1, 2022 – Carnival Around the World

It’s Fat Tuesday! While here in the U.S. our Mardi Gras celebrations are centered around the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, today I thought we’d take a look at how other countries around the world are celebrating.
In several cities in Spain, they have a ritual called the Burial of the Sardine. There are carnival parades that parody a funeral processions that culminate with the burning of a symbolic figure (usually a representation of a sardine). It symbolizes burying the past to allow society to be reborn and transformed. It’s said to have started after Charles III of Spain gave his subjects sardines to celebrate carnival. But it was a hot day, so the sardines went bad and had to be buried to get rid of the smell.
In Italy, the city of Ivrea has a unique celebration called the “Battle of the Oranges”. It’s basically a giant food fight, where thousands of people hurl oranges at each other for three days. Around 100 workers are needed to clean up the mess each day. The battle recreates a 12th-century overthrow of the town’s baron by the townspeople.
In Denmark, Carnival looks more like Halloween, with children dressing up in costumes and collecting treats. Traditional events include something called “hit the cat out of the barrel”, which is similar to a pinata, but with candy not cats. It has it’s roots in the tradition that winter is a black cat that needs to be driven away before Spring can arrive.
And of course, here in the U.S., the biggest Mardi Gras celebration happens in New Orleans, with around 1.4 million people visiting the city during this time (pre-pandemic, of course). Louisiana is the only state where Mardi Gras is a legal holiday. Over 25 million pounds of beads are thrown on Mardi Gras.
Learn more here.