February Festivals part 1
Today we’ll be starting a new and long-ranging series of articles in which we’ll be looking at as many February festivals as possible, and then we’ll continue the series as the year goes on, but for now let’s start talking about festivals that February has in store for the intrepid traveler.
Carnaval de Quebec or Winter Carnival
This Carnaval usually in late January and ends sometime in mid-February. At least according to its self-advertisement, this is the largest winter carnival – and considering that it takes place in Canada and spans seventeen days, one tends to believe it.
The event started way back in 1894 as a way of beating the winter chills and starting the new year with more energy, but it only starting to look like its modern version sometime in the 1950s. What you’ll find today at the Carnaval de Quebec is night parades, ice slides, obviously dog-sled races through the snowy city streets, an outdoor cinema and an international snow-sculpture competition, to name just a few of the things in store for you.
For those true lovers of the cold experience – and hopefully those who also lack any heard problems – there’s the snow bath which implies and requires three dips in the snow in one’s swimsuit.
Carnevale Venezia or the Venice Carnival
This carnival doesn’t have a definite start date in as much that it doesn’t start on any one specific date of the month, instead it begins two Saturdays before Ash Wednesday and ends on Shrove Tuesday.
This is considered by many to be the high point in Venice’s social calendar, the Carnival being a masked extravaganza in which everybody has to wear a mask and go about the city for twelve days to join the revelry.
The Carnival has been part of the city’s history since about the 15th Century, a period in which private clubs would organize masked balls and a slew of rather arguable entertainment. Nowadays it starts off with a procession of masked participants through the city, with the next day being dedicated to jousts and other mock-military tournaments. Then there’s the Grand Masked Ball and the party keeps on going for many days after.
Keep our worldwide car rental services in mind if you plan on going to any of these festivities.
