CARNIVAL!

Carnival, Fasnacht, Entroido, Mardi Gras - an annual pre-Lenten festival is celebrated in hundreds of cities and villages throughout Europe and the Americas. Carnival! is a joyous celebration of this many-faceted festival and a tribute to those who have kept their Carnival traditions alive. With more than 325 dazzling colour photographs, the volumes takes the reader on a vibrant journey through Carnival in eleven distant locations, from New Orleans, Brazil and Bulgaria to Venice, Bolivia and Port-au-Prince, outlining its history in each area and its present form. The authors present all the major masquerades, including Venice's classic Harlequin and Pierrot, Bulgaria's Kouker and Port of Spain's Midnight Robber, as well as the variety of participants, such as Recife and Olinda's Brazilian population and the charro dancers of Mexico. The sequence of Carnival events is also described, from excited preparation to last-gasp revelry, with tastes of festival food and drink and the rhythm ofmusic added along the way. Whatever deeper religious or civic significance Carnival may hold, it is always a time of play, conviviality, fantasy and excess - a time when alternatives to the status quo can be imagined and people can push aside everyday restraints and inhibitions.