The herald., 1897-04-25

but very certain change began. The
: spirit of compromise, which has so gen.
orally characterized the dealings OF the
church with the world at large, also dis
tinguished 1t in its attitude toward the
prevailing festivals The primitive
church, not finding It wise or practica-
bic to oppose the celebrations that
formed part of the national life, fitted
them into its system and assigned to
them a meaning connected with Its own
practices and observances.
The Bacchanalian festivals of an
tlquity were celebrated by the Romans,
who adopted them from older nations,
twice In the year, indicating the connec-
ton of those rites with the phenomena
of the solar system, in the winter and in
the summer 1t was vintage festival.
and was held in the month Of March.
The Lupercalian festival, in honor of
Pan and Ceres, observed in February,
was the companion celebration. at which
the greatest license was observed, and
which received the earliest effective at
tention of the church. Pope Gelasius I.
who died in 400, strove to supersede the
them the festival of the Publication Of
the Blessed Virgin, with special illumin-
ations of candles on the altar-"Candle-
mas" The word February connected
with "FebruareD denotes publication.
and in this month the publication of the
people took place; the rites of the Luper-
Gala, which were succeeded by the Bac-
chanalia, were were celebrated on the
18th, and included the lighting of can
dies, in allusion to those used by Ceres
in her search for Proserpine. In such
manner and under such guise is sup
posed to have appeared the carnival idea
of modern times.
THE CARNIVAL DEFINED
The word carnival" is as hopelessly
in dispute, however. as that OF feast" !"
The Italian vocabularies are contradic-
tory In their definitions. The most rea-
sonable explanation of the origin of the
word is that it is taken from the Italian
"carneva'le." explained either by the
help of the medieval Latin 'carne-
leva rium." "carnileva men," as
removal of fesh"; or from the Latin.
"currus- navalis' - boat on wheels -
from a usage of the professions already
noticed in the celebration of the Grecian
Panathenaea. The explanation from the
Italian "carne'-flesh-plu the Latin
''vale"-farewell-is mere folk ety.
mology. The popular understanding Of
the word, as signifying the last few
days OF license and feasting before the
beginning of Lent, anG as sort of vale
dictory nsolation for the pri'<itions
about to follow, is not the proper mean
ing of the term, and is hardly yet so un-
derstood In Italy. There it is very COM
monty taken to signify the whole of the
time between the first day of the year
to Shrove Tuesday, inclusive. But
neither is that absolutely correct. Car
nival time properly begins on January
7th, the day following the feast of the
Epiphany. and lasts until midnight on
Shrove Tuesday. OF all the dictionary
rongers who are hopelessly at out,
Ferrario is probably more nearly cor
rect when he maintains that the word
was originally the same with "carnalia."
indicating an origin much earlier than
ecclesiastical observance, and used in
the same way as Saturnalia, Liberalia,
Lupercalia, etc.
In any case 1t is as an exciting prelude
to the austerities of the Lenten season
that carnival is known. While the
Grecian festivals were held in honor Of
the gods, and incidentally to develop the
physique, manhood and patriotism Of
the nation, the Roman celebrations had
a more utilitarian basis. AS has been
stated, the Roman legions had no scru-
pies against crying All Hail! to foreign
god-nct out of an abundance of rever-
ence, but simply as a means to ingratiate
themselves with this stranger god, who
might serve their material aims. So
their celebrations were of complex char
acter. They were sops thrown to the
populace to keep them quiet; the ele-
nent of worship, while present. was OF
a very material kind and festival times
attracted strangers from afar and en-
couraged trade in certain directions
In consequence of thus aiding the ma
terial resources OF Rome, the govern
ment of the popes, while 1amenting the
excesses, perhaps took active steps to
promote and encourage the carnival OBJ
servance The Roman carnival was
especially splendid during the papacy
of the great Farnese pope, Paul Ill
-1549-days when Rome was still
overflowing with wealth, surrounded by
tributary Christendom. In 1545 the cell
ebration was marked by special mag
rificence.
PAGEANT AND SPORTS
The sports consisted of three divisions:
The races in the Corso (Which. formerly
named Via Lata, took its present name
from them), the spectacular pageants Of
the "agona" (now the Piazza Navona)
and of the Testaccio. The rejoicing con-
tinued for eight days. and each day there
were races in which ran old and young
boys, Jews, horses, buffaloes and asses.
the prizes consisting Of banneret
termed "palio." In those days, however
the principal feature OF the carnival was
the "ginochi," or sports of the Agona.
and the Monte Testaccio. The former
consisted of a monster procession Of
which that age was SO proud. a de-
tailed account may be found In manu-
.o~,n+ pracaryad in the A1hant library