Limassol Carnival Festival

Carnival Festival in Limassol

The Limassol Carnival Festival is an annual carnival which is held at Limassol, in Cyprus. The event which is very popular in Cyprus was introduced in the 20th century. It is held 12 days before the Christian season of Lent on the Sunday before Ash Monday. It is held for 10 days, 50 days before Orthodox Easter. The festival is a colourful event of people feasting, singing songs of sarcasm, playing games, holding Carnival processions and balls, which is held in most towns of Cyprus, but the event held at Limassol is the largest and most popular.

Event

The Carnival in Limassol

Limassol Carnival Festival, which is said to be an old custom traced to the pagan rituals, is now held as an entertaining event. The Cypriot's version is that it is a Hellenistic heritage that went back to pre-Christian times and it was Greek festival honoring Dionysus, the deity of wine and fun. As practiced now in Limassol is a legacy from Venetians who had ruled over Cyprus during the 15th to 16th centuries.

The Carnival has become an institution and is arranged by the Limassol Municipality. The municipality conducts a minimum of five masked balls which include an open-air ball on Heroon Square in the heart of city center, and in huge ball rooms of major hotels. The floats and the singing are satirical. The Carnival King or Queen could be presented as a satirical figure representing social, political and economic conditions of relevance to Cyprus. On the final day which is the Grand Carnival more than 100 floats take part in the procession. During 2014 the satirical theme was the Carnival King depicted with Euro signs indicative of the economic crisis in Europe. On an earlier occasion the Carnival Queen was presented as Angela Merkel as they had then considered her responsible for the economic crisis in Cyprus.

The first week of the festival begins on a Thursday with entry of the King Carnival (as a satirical display it could be a Queen also) in a procession through the town which is decorated for the occasion followed by a grand fancy dress competition of children that is held at the Tsirion Athletic Stadium. The first week also marks the Meat Week (Kreatini), which is the last week for eating meat before Easter. The day the festival starts is also known as Taikopetti, (meaning "Stinky Thursday"), a name attributed to the cooking aromas of meat pervading the streets.

In the second week of the festival, which is called the cheese week (Tyrini), dairy products are consumed. At the end of the week on a Sunday the celebration involves the Grand Carnival parade which is taken through the Makariou III Avenue of Limassol. People from all parts of the island gather to watch the "floats with the serenade and other masqueraded groups."

Throughout the festival period most hotels and clubs in the city hold fancy dress balls and parties.

During the year 2015 the Limassol Municipality organized the Carnival from 12 February to 22 February 2015 with Grand parade held on 22nd through the Archbishop Makarios III Avenue.

Bibliography

• Antoniadou, Zoe Andrea (1992). The Gradual Destruction of the Urban and Cultural Environment in Limassol, Cyprus. University of California, Berkeley. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Inc, IBP, (3 March 2012). Cyprus Country Study Guide Volume 1 Strategic Information and Developments. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-4387-7423-7. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Merin, Jennifer; Burdick, Elizabeth B. (1 November 1979). International directory of theatre, dance, and folklore festivals: a project of the International Theatre Institute of the United States, inc. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-20993-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)