Tag Archives: carnival

Brasilian Festival

AGE: 20 

Date of performance: 04/29/2025

Occupation: Student 

Primary Language: English 

Title-   Carnival

Context- M shares with me a tie to her family heritage that she celebrates even though she doesn’t live in Brazil— Carnival. M’s mom is from Brazil, and M shares with me how they would celebrate— “We would watch it on tv because we weren’t in Brasil but we’d wear Brasil colors and usually eat the traditional foods like feijoada and coxinha.”

Analysis- In folklore, festivals are seen as cultural practices that exemplify traditional and communal elements of a community’s values, traditions and history. Carnival is a big festival in Brazil, celebrating Brazil’s diverse heritage and showcasing different folkloric elements through their extreme costumes, traditional dancing (samba), and the occasional storytelling. Carnival is an example of how culture and tradition are highlighted by a giant performance—a key element in identifying folklore.

Vacaville Fiesta Days

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Context: The Fiesta Days parade was so fun as a kid. It was this stretch of about four days in Vacaville, CA, where I grew up, that the whole town would get involved with this cool parade that had floats and marching bands. Afterward, there would be a carnival, kids’ events, live music, and great food. It always took place in late May, so the weather was usually great. One of the reasons it’s such a huge memory for me is because I was part of the parade in my school’s marching band. I marched and played my trumpet in that parade about four years in a row, and it was so fun. We had these cool costumes on that made you feel like you were going to pass out by the end of it with how hot you were. And we would play some silly marching band songs all the way through the parade route. I played the trumpet, so my lips were so tired by the end. Our band always won for our age group in the parade awards. But what was really fun is that after we were all done, we got to partake in the festivities—riding rides in the carnival and going to the local band concerts. Looking back, it was a great way for the community to come together in a fun, memorable way.

Analysis: One thing that stands out to me about this festival is how strongly it’s tied to youth participation. It’s not just something for kids to watch, it’s something they can actively participate in and make special. Getting kids involved as active members in this way ensures that when they grow up, they’ll want to continue to be active members. These traditions help build a sense of belonging in a community. Everyone has a role to play, even if it’s just to enjoy the parade and eat funnel cake. These kinds of yearly events that bring the local area together in this time of changing seasons have the effect of marking time, you know when the weather starts to get nice and warm it’s time for the Fiesta Days. These are the types of events that make people feel good about where they come from. No matter where the children that participate live when they grow up, they’ll continue to hold the joy and pride that this made them feel about their hometown.

Les Gilles de Binche

Nationality: Italian
Age: 63
Occupation: Businessman
Residence: Bologna
Performance Date: 03/28
Primary Language: Italian
Language: French, Spanish

Main piece:

I still remember the first and only time I have seen it. I don’t know this giant feathers, the chaos, the movements it’s…it’s quite fascinating, but also intimidating for a child of four years old I guess. They start to march like.

[gets up and starts imitating the movements of the performance and the rhythm played]

ts-mpa ts-mpa ts-mpa. 

[smiles] 

My father used to imitate them perfectly. 

I remember being astonished by this ritual. What they do is basically march, all dressed in costumes with the colors of the Belgian flag, so black, red and yellow, and wearing clogs and feathered hats. 

Then they start throwing oranges to the crowd, because, if I am not wrong, it is supposed to bring luck.

Background:

My informant is my father who was born in Belgium from Italian immigrants and who spent the first years of his life in Mons, before moving to Italy. Even after his transferring, he continued to visit many times each year his native country, also because much of his family still lived there. He remembers taking part as spectator to this festival when really young, this is why his memories are a bit confused. When recounting it, he really placed much emphasis on the sensorial impressions the performance gave him, so the sounds of the clogs, the music, the visual effects of the feathers and costumes. 

Moreover, being Belgium the place where he was born, he visibly has a certain degree of emotional attachment to the country and his infant memories.

Context:

He told me this story several times when asked about his first years of life in Belgium. This particular espied occurred in his living-room, while we were chatting over a coffee.

Thoughts:

Many are the Carnivals practiced around the world, but this surly is one of the most peculiar ones. There are various hypothesis on the origin of this festival; the more acclaimed one states that the carnival -despite the first textual references belonging to the end of the 18th century-traces its origins back to the second half of the 16th century, when Spain conquered Peru. As a matter of fact, it is said the costumes of the Gilles recall, in someway, some pieces of clothing of the Incas, and that the thrown the oranges symbolizes the Incan gold. This hypothesis can find resolution in the ‘lavish’ and majestic headgear made of ostrich feathers, but, as my informants points out at the end of his interview, different could be the reasons of the oranges’ thrown.

In fact, the reason why the oranges symbolize and bring luck could find an explanation in the fact that they were not a common fruit easily procurable in Belgium. In this way, especially in the past, they were synonym of prosperity and richness, as it meant that the country and, in auricular the city of Binche, could afford foreign product and, therefore, be quite wealthy. Consequently, oranges become an emblem, a magical object meant to homeopathically symbolize fortune and success. 

On the other side, it is interesting to notice the strong nationalistic and identity’s sentiment the Gilles symbolize. In fact, all the 800 dressed men who perform in the festival must have rigorously been residents in Binche for at least five years, the uniform they bear has the colors of the Belgian flag and the shoes they wear are typical of the geographical region in which Binche -and Belgium- is located.

-“Carnival of Binche.” Cultural Studies: Holidays Around the World, edited by Pearline Jaikumar, Omnigraphics, Inc., 6th edition, 2018. Credo Reference, https://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/hfcwd/carnival_of_binche/0?institutionId=887.

-Alford, V. “Carnival at Binche.” Folklore, vol. 66, no. 3, 1955, pp. 352–357. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1258143.

-https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gille

Muses Decorated Heels

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Orleans
Performance Date: 4/20/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

According to EG, a resident of New Orleans, Muses is one of the first all female parades in Mardi Gras. To set it apart from the other parades they started throwing decorated heels. Each rider decorates their own shoes and put their spin on them, with glitter, writing, and designs. It turns into a pretty sculpture of a shoe. Each rider decorates 10-12 shoes and throws them off of their float during the parade. She has caught 3 shoes in her time at Mardi Gras and she considers it a symbol of New Orleans Mardi Gras. Because of muses other parades have started to throw other items like it. Other parades like the Krewe of Tucks and the Krewe of Nyx throw decorated toilet plungers and purses respectively.

Context:

EG is a college aged resident of New Orleans. She was born there and has lived there her entire life. This was collected in a conversation at my home. She has been to Mardi Gras every year since her birth and considers it to be a central part of her life.

Thoughts:

I, also being a resident from New Orleans, understand this piece of folklore very well. The heels thrown from the float are a sub-genre of what is know as throws, or things float riders throw off a float during a parade. Beads and Doubloons are what people mainly consider as Mardi Gras throws, but there are many more. Cups, spears, and as EG mentioned, heels and other decorated items are all throws that separate one parade from another. I think the main reason for these throws is that each has a distinct item that not only tells a story of the rider and the parade, but something you can only get if you participate in or go to the parade during the season.

New Orleans King Cake

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Orleans
Performance Date: 4/20/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

EG, a resident of New Orleans, if very fond of the Mardi Gras season and the treats that come during it. One of these is King Cake. King Cakes originate in France as a cake to eat during Carnival season. It is a sweetcake covered in sugar and icing. A tradition for carnival season. They begin selling them on Twelfth Night, January 6th, and stop on Mardi Gras day. Some stores sell them any time of the year but not as a true “king cake”. A Baby is inside of the king cake. In many traditions if you get the baby you must buy the next king cake. In school every Friday one person would bring a king cake and the next week another person would have to get the king cake. 

Context:

EG is a college aged resident of New Orleans. She was born there and has lived there her entire life. This was collected in a conversation at my home. She has been to Mardi Gras every year since her birth and considers it to be a central part of her life.

Thoughts:

I enjoy the history and idea of king cake not just as a New Orleanian who likes the food, but as a tradition. The whole idea to me is that we eat this super unhealthy food so much during this carnival season as last hurrah before Lent begins right after Fat Tuesday. The baby being inside of the cake as a reward is very interesting. I like the tradition of having the recipient of the baby bring the king cake the next week. The wide variety of them in New Orleans also would mean that different people would bring in different king cakes which would give everyone in her class a different experience each time they eat it.