Rooted in Paganism

But regardless from where the word “carnival” may actually be derived, the evidence is clear that this pre-Lenten festival is of pagan origin. The Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, explains:

“The Athenian processions with the ship-cart were held in honour of the god Dionysus. The worship of Dionysus had its Roman counterpart in the Bacchanalia, as also in the Saturnalia and Lupercalia​—festivals which in the later Roman period were characterized by wanton raillery and unbridled freedom, and were in a manner a temporary subversion of civil order. This general spirit, together with certain special features, was transmitted to the Carnival in particular, and this explains why that festival has assumed its peculiar character in regions where Roman civilization reigned supreme.”​—Vol. 3, page 226.

That the carnival celebrated in Catholic lands is actually an adaptation of ancient pagan festivals is also noted in The Encyclopædia Britannica, in its eleventh edition. This source also explains the attitudes of the popes toward this festival, saying:

“Anciently the carnival was held to begin on twelfth night (6th January) and last till midnight of Shrove Tuesday. There is little doubt that this period of licence represents a compromise which the church always inclined to make with the pagan festivals and that the carnival really represents the Roman Saturnalia.

As already mentioned, here in Nice a huge manikin of “His Majesty Carnival” is, at the end of the carnival, taken to the seaside and burned. This is a concluding feature of many carnivals. From where may this custom have originated?

Interestingly, there is a remarkable parallel of this feature of the carnival with the ancient pagan festivals. Regarding this James G. Frazer, in his well-known work The Golden Bough, observes:

“The resemblance between the Saturnalia of ancient and the Carnival of modern Italy has often been remarked; but in the light of all the facts that have come before us, we may well ask whether the resemblance does not amount to identity. We have seen that in Italy, Spain, and France, that is, in the countries where the influence of Rome has been deepest and most lasting, a conspicuous feature of the Carnival is a burlesque figure personifying the festive season, which after a short career of glory and dissipation is publicly shot, burnt, or otherwise destroyed, to the feigned grief or genuine delight of the populace. If the view here suggested of the Carnival is correct, this grotesque personage is no other than a direct successor of the old King of the Saturnalia, the master of the revels [who, at the end of ancient pagan festivities was also put to death].”