Evening star., 1935-12-29
Latins Stage
.GayFestivals
Prior to Lent
King Mono Rules in
Rio-Lima's Fete
$50 Years Old.

w YHILE leading cities of the
M Old World are spreading
" " pavilions over thousands
of acres to display mer-
merchandise, the fair and the carnival
unite in South America and assume
the spirit of a. festive mardi gras.
In their pageantry and vivacity,
South American carnivals follow the
custom, dating from the early Roman
period. The occasion is generally the
licensed fling in which one is allowed
to indulge prior to Lent While the
festivities lose none of the original
significance, the carnival at Rio is
strictly individual and is one of the
big holiday periods of the year for
all Brazil. Rich and poor make merry
together. Men and women, boys and
girls, housewife, maid. artisan and
laborer save money necessary to buy
masks, suits to disguise them as a
domino or pierrot; confetti, oceans of
serpentine and perfume sprays. Rio
devotes three full days and nights to
carnival merriment-Sunday to Shrove
Tuesday, with the proceeding Satur-
day thrown in for good measure.
MONO, the king of carnival, IS
heralded on Saturday. Every
where people turn out en- maSse in
Avenida Rio Brance for their first
confetti and serpentine skirmishes.
Thousands Of little colored balloons
filled with water burst joyously over
head. Happy costumed crowds sing
and dance through spangled arches to
the maddening rhythm of music COM
posed in homage to the Orgy Sovereign.
Preceding the two-mile parade Of floats
Of the three big carnival clubs of Rio
are the clown bands with her lady
ships, the wigmaker's daughter or the
plumbers wife, masquerading the
characters of the Court of Louis XVI
mingling with the elite of Rio, in
triguingly masked as burlesque kings,
Queens of Sheba. Napoleon and a
thousand other characters. At the
same hour Monday and Tuesday, visi-
tors are again invited to join the
"Corso" with its thousands of COL
ored lights vying with flashing search
lights. combining the Oriental splen-
dor of Arabian nights with the in
genuity Of modern Rio. For three
days each program is a different scene,
until the early hour of Wednesday
when the call of Lent is sounded.
THE carnival IN Lima, Peru. which
has been in existence for $50
years, was in early periods a crude,
slummy affair, and generally ended
with many injuries. as the pastimes
consisted. in addition to water dousing.
egg pelting. such pleasantries as
emptying sacks of broken glass from
balconies on passersby beneath. For
go years, the modern Lima Carnival
has been a pageant of beauty, with
queens and allegorical cars, repre-
senting the finest displays in pageantry
possible under the domination of
King Carnival. The coming carnival
will be patterned on French rather
than Creole lines, and will show many
artistic floral floats, with a smack of
the SmartneSs of Paris.
THE spirit of carnival controls all
activities in Havana. Thousands
Of automobiles decorated with cut
roses and flowers form in procession.
Trucks draped with bunting display
all colors of the rainbow. These colors
generally correspond to the flags of
foreign countries, with 20 to 80 oc-
cupants dressed in similar shades. At
10 am. on the first carnival Sunday
the queen, together with her six chosen
beauties, is conveyed to the Office of
the City Council in the old palace.
where she is received in state.