Celebrate !Carnaval!

The Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History have collaborated to create a fantastic exhibition exploring Carnival traditions from eight sites in Europe and the Americas. [??]CARNAVAL! travels to six different venues in the U.S. through 2007. Utilizing vibrant costumes, large-scale photo murals, and video programs shot on location, [??]CARNAVAL! provides museum goers with colorful insight into historic traditions that continue to be vibrant elements of contemporary life in each community.

[??]CARNAVAL!

The exhibition uses colorful costumes set against backdrops of large photo murals and is accompanied by video footage taped at each site to bring the dramatic elements of Carnival celebrations to life. Visitors to the exhibition will see Peliqueiros wearing belts of cowbells called chocos and other costume elements running through the streets of Laza, Spain. Gondoliers in costumes paddle through the canales in Venice, Italy. Cliques from Basel, Switzerland, organize to make political statements on painted lanterns that are illuminated from within and paraded through the streets in the evening accompanied by masked fife and drum brigades. Chivarrudos, comical cowboys from Tlaxcala, Mexico, gallop through the streets while charros, their elite European counterparts, dance quadrilles in formation. Giant puppets in Recife and Olinda, Brazil, punctuate processions filled with maracatu percussion groups and ornate costumes emulating European royal courts. In Oruro, Bolivia, hundreds of dancers in Diablo costumes, others in traditional indigenous regalia and more characters portraying the complex relationships in this mining region parade down cobblestone streets and then participate in mass at the cathedral.

Giant stilt walkers tower over elaborate sailor and king and queen costumes in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where music played on steel drums fills the street. One important stop of the exhibition is New Orleans, where the Mardi Gras Indians, Krewes, and Zulus are highlighted. The effects of Hurricane Katrina have made us all the more appreciative of the exuberance of Mardi Gras, a tradition that will, without a doubt, continue in New Orleans.

Bridging Cultures with Carnival

[??]CARNAVAL! draws together this wide variety of cultures and traditions to articulate the themes of play and renewal in Carnival celebrations worldwide. By focusing on one particular celebration as a window through which to view distinct communities, common elements as well as differences between diverse cultures are articulated, creating bridges between the many peoples of our world.

Teacher Resources

The exhibition is supported by two fantastic publications, [??]CARNAVAL!, published by the University of Washington Press, is a colorful companion to the exhibition. Edited by Barbara Mauldin, [??]CARNAVAL! project director and curator of Latin American Folk Art at the Museum of International Folk Art, the publication includes essays by ten other scholars in the field and over 300 dazzling color photographs.

A teacher curriculum guide, also called [??]CARNAVAL!, is available through Crystal Productions. The multimedia, interdisciplinary program includes a curriculum guide for grades K-12 with a history and background of each site and a comprehensive activity section, which encourages classroom teachers to create their own Carnival celebration; twenty-four color prints; and a video with footage from each site. Teachers can access the exhibition online at www.carnavalexhibit.org.

The History of Carnival

Carnival began in medieval Europe as a celebration marking the approach of Catholic Lent and the change of seasons from winter to spring. The origin of the name Carnival is derived from the Latin carnemlevare, or "to remove oneself from meat." Later it was abbreviated to the Italian carnevale, which means "farewell to flesh." Introduced to the Americas by Europeans, Carnival in the Western hemisphere was infused with a wide variety of cultural practices.

Communities included in [??]CARNAVAL!

* Laza, Spain

* Venice, Italy

* Basel, Switzerland

* Tlaxcala, Mexico

* Oruro, Bolivia

* Recife and Olinda, Brazil

* Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

* New Orleans, USA

Exhibition Schedule

UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History until April 23, 2006 Los Angeles, California

Mingei International Museum June 2006 through August 2006 San Diego, California 

New Orleans Museum of Art October 14, 2006 to January 6, 2007 New Orleans, Louisiana

Dallas Museum of Art February 11, 2007, to May 6, 2007 Dallas, Texas

Carnegie Museum of Natural History June 9, 2007, to January 5, 2008 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Aurelia Gomez is the Director of Education at the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico. aurelia. [e-mail].