Carnivale

Years ago a lawyer from New Orleans pointed out what F should perhaps have known having been schooled in Latin for 3 years (even if it was nearly 45 years previously) that carnivale (carne vale) means 'goodbye to meat' or if you prefer a literal version 'meat goodbye'

Clearly carnivale is not for cats.

Here on Greece it is called Apokries ('from meat'?)  It's that time before Easter when the land produces little to harvest, the animals that have been maintained through the winter are reproducing, and (at least before there was a globalized economy, industrial preservatives and good home freezers) there was a period of straitened dietary input for humans. If you think of winter as the earth breathing in, this period is that pause before it breathes out again.  Formalizing it as a period of fasting does in fact make sense, unless you are in the southern hemisphere - like growing up in NZ for instance - where the religious observance falls on the peak harvest and time of year where the call of nature says 'eat up now, winter is on its way'.

The start of the fasting season is often celebrated with galas, parties, parades, dressing up, extravaganzas, and joining with crowds in streets.

Our stilt walking, fire-swinging, juggling neighbour is plotting a party. Fully aware that we are all unlikely to be participating in any real sense in street parades this year, she is already on the job with other performers to see if they can come up with a proposal that 'To Demos' (the municipality) might accept for street performances that people about our town can see from their balconies.

Think big..... Aim for the stars, you might reach??? How far???

She is right about one thing. Human spirits need a boost (irrespective of their religious affiliations), to be transported, even if only for an hour. My humans definitely need to start getting out more.

She gave us our own, one-woman show for half an hour after dark on 6 Jan (for Ton Foton).

(And in case anyone wants to know - that's her exercise; permit 6)