page_title: Limassol Carnival Festival
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Limassol Carnival Festival / History
caption_attribution_description: Carnival in Limassol 2014
context_page_description: The Limassol Carnival Festival is an annual European carnival event held at Limassol, Cyprus. It is considered one of the most notable carnival events worldwide. The event is held 12 days before the Christian season of Lent on the Sunday before Ash Monday, 50 days before Orthodox Easter. The festival is a 10-day colourful event of people feasting, singing songs, satire, games, carnival processions and balls.
context_section_description: Limassol Carnival Festival, which is said to be an old custom traced to pagan rituals, is now held as an entertaining event.  The local belief is that it is a Hellenistic heritage that goes back to pre-Christian times and to an ancient Greek festival honoring Dionysus, the deity of wine and fun. However, the first written reference of the carnival is by Nеоphitos Egklistos, who accuses Cypriots of idolatry and accepting an alien tradition of celebrating the start of the Great Fast. The second historical mention is from Christophor Furkher Nirenberg, whо visited Cyprus in 1566 during a journey to the Holy Land. Nirenmberg was impressed by the carnival parades and told a story about how local noblemen organize amazing feasts, where people dance, sing and have fun. As practiced now in Limassol is a legacy from the Venetians who  ruled over Cyprus during the 15th–16th centuries. The Carnival of Venice, however,  takes itself very seriously, in comparison. In contrast, both adults and children can join the Limassol Carnival and as a rule everyone pours foam on each other in the Old City. The celebrations are held in most towns around the island, but the event held in Limassol is by far the largest and most popular.
caption: A typical Greco-Roman thematic
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "E-PL5", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.3 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2014:03:02 22:30:50", "Image Artist": "Sergey Galyonkin", "Image Copyright": "Sergey Galyonkin", "Image ExifOffset": "312", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1032", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "23749", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:03:02 16:11:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:03:02 16:11:36", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "995723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "331919/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "217/128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "8", "EXIF FocalLength": "45", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "8719635/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "8719635/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "4", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "90", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "BFU503390", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[45, 45, 9/5, 9/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "OLYMPUS M.45mm F1.8", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "ABS202424"}