What does Carnival mean in the Bible?

The Carnival holidays are approaching and many people are wondering what the Bible means for this celebration, which is linked to the Christian festival of Easter.

The Monday and Tuesday of Carnival - which this year falls on March 3 and 4 - precede Ash Wednesday , as Vinícius de Moraes wrote and João Gilberto sang, in a metaphor about the brevity of happiness: "People work all year, for a moment of sleep to dress up as a king, a pirate or a gardener... and it all ends on Wednesday."

This date, part of the Christian liturgy, is the one that inaugurates Lent , the 40-day period of restrictions that the faithful do to reach Holy Week , where different episodes of the life of Jesus are remembered, and which culminates in Easter , the feast that celebrates the biblical episode of his resurrection.

In this way, although it is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, the parades and the debauchery of Carnival act as a "farewell" to carnal pleasures before the beginning of Lent , where the faithful try to live with moderation and some limitations , such as not eating meat on Fridays during the period.

However, it is important to clarify that Carnival does not have a Christian origin , but was established based on pre-existing pagan festivals among the ancient Romans, which were placed before the beginning of Lent to facilitate the transition to the new religion, maintaining in form some of the previous traditions.

As mentioned, the origin of Carnival predates the religion that venerates Christ , as explained by the Britannica encyclopedia . Like other festivals, the Christian liturgy was adapted to pagan customs in a syncretism, that is, the fusion of two traditions in the same culture. In this sense, the academic source says that “the historical origins of Carnival are obscure”: “It is possible that they have roots in a primitive festival that honored the beginning of the new year or the rebirth of nature, although it is also possible that the beginning of Carnivals in Italy is linked to the Saturnalia festivals of Ancient Rome .”

Some historians even point out that the origins of these festivities date back to ancient Sumeria and Egypt , more than 5,000 years ago, such as the celebrations in honour of the Apis bull in Egypt. In fact, all of these ancient celebrations were similar to those held in Ancient Rome.

The most widely agreed-upon etymological origin is that the term “ Carnival ” comes from the Latin term “carnem-levare” , meaning “to give up meat”, reflecting the Catholic custom of not eating meat on Fridays during Lent . Later, the Latin word “ carne-vale” was adopted, meaning “farewell to meat”.

Despite this, some researchers claimed that the term has a pagan origin , since Carna was the Celtic goddess of beans and bacon.

It is also believed that Carnival could be linked to Indo-European festivals, dedicated to the god Karna or the Hindu deity Kamadeva. This is considered the god of love since kama means “sexual desire”—and, according to some Hindu monks, “lust”—and deva , “God.”