PREPARING FOR CARNIVALE

If you’re an American you’re probably familiar with the Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, and maybe the Carnivale celebrations in Venice and Rio too. What you may not realize is what a big deal Carnivale is all over Italy. Carnivale is in Italy what Halloween is in the United States.

Just to refresh your memory, Carnivale is the last big celebration before the beginning of Lent and the time of fasting and repentance. “Fat Tuesday” (Mardi Gras) is the culmination of weeks of celebrations for the Italians. This year, Fat Tuesday is on February 20th. Wednesday, February 21st will be Ash Wednesday, and the official beginning of Lent.

For many, many towns of all sizes throughout Italy there have been parties and parades and feasting scheduled for the three Sundays preceding Ash Wednesday. Not surprisingly, this coming Sunday, February 18th will be the biggest celebration of them all. Although there’s a parade scheduled in Marsciano, and even something going on here in San Venanzo, I think we’re going to drive to Ponte Rio, just down the hill from Todi, to check out their festivities.

All the stores are filled with costumes and decorations for Carnivale. Bags and bags of confetti will fill the streets of every town for weeks to come. Aerosol cans of string (or spray snot as I like to call it, thinking of Tom Hanks use of it in “Big”) will leave their mark too. For now, everything is still orderly, with all the cute costumes just waiting for someone to bring them to life.