Carnival, Whitsun, Easter is coming... one of the most famous and most widespread carnival songs in Slovakia probably comes to most of us when we mention the word Carnival. But do you know from when to when carnival lasts and how our ancestors experienced carnival in villages?
Carnival represents the period from Epiphany (January 6) until midnight before Ash Wednesday. This transitional period between winter and spring is associated with the expectation of change - natural as well as social - and temporarily breaks established orders and norms in a peculiar way.
Today, this period is perceived as the ball season. It is a time when various parties, balls, and carnivals are organized. In some villages, traditions are still remembered, and especially at the end of carnival, traditional carnival processions are held, where the customs of our ancestors are observed. And what were they?
Carnival was inseparably associated with parties with masks. In villages, there were house visits where mainly men wore various masks such as: bear, turoň, goat, horse - symbolizing male fertility strength. The masks usually depicted death and revival of the animal, which was meant to express the renewal and awakening of nature to life after winter. During this period, many events, social occasions, weddings, and pig-slaughters took place. Every Sunday, dance parties or balls were held. The most festive party was held at the end of carnival. It was the climax of the whole period. The procession of dancers went around houses and ended with the well-known custom of burying the bass.
What was eaten during carnival? Carnival was a period rich in high-calorie foods so that people could eat well before Lent. Although in the past people ate quite sparingly, during carnival overeating was allowed. There were no rules, no punishments, no confessions, no fasting. On the contrary, a lot of meat and drink disappeared from the pantries. Traditional carnival foods included fánky, doughnuts, pampúchy, strudels, and pig-slaughter specialties.
These old customs were widespread roughly until the end of the 19th century, but they have survived in various forms and variations in villages to this day, of course with regional differences. Many of us no longer practice folk customs and may not even know them, but at least let’s sing our carnival song :)
Carnival, Whitsun
Carnival, Whitsun, Easter is coming,
who doesn’t have a coat will be cold.
I don’t have, I don’t have, I’m just shaking,
give me some bacon so I can graze.
Carnival, carnival, carnival times,
some drink, others eat sausages at the table.
Here they didn’t give us, here they will,
here they killed a horse, here they have ribs.
And we pupils, poor fellows, have nothing to eat,
we have to go from house to house around the village.
