[Here in the United States we have a tradition that we call Mardi Gras, [Fat Tuesday] which comes from French Catholicism. In the Portuguese speaking nations such as Brazil, the term and celebration is called Carnaval–here Emanuel Stênio from Canção Nova explains Carnaval to us.]
Hey guys, peace and goodness!
Carnaval has begun!
But ultimately, what is Carnaval!? It is a holiday period governed by the lunar year in Christianity of the Middle Ages. The period was marked by a carnival of “farewell to meat ” or “carne vale”(meat leaves) giving rise to the term “carnival”. During the Carnaval there was a large concentration of traditional festivals. Each city was playing in his own way, according to their customs.
The Carnaval feast emerged at the beginning of the 11th century, when Holy Week in the Catholic, preceded by 40 days of fasting: Lent. This long period of privation would eventually encourage the meeting of diverse festivals in the days that preceded Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
Why does the date of Carnaval change? All the ecclesiastical festivals are calculated as a function of the Date for Easter with the exception of Christmas. As Easter Sunday begins the first Sunday afater the first full moon that is verified from the Spring Equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere) or the Autumn Equinox (in the Southern Hemisphere) and Good Friday precedes Easter Sunday, therefore, Tuesday of Carnaval occurs 47 days before Easter. Do you understand now? Do you see that Carnaval is a festival that is defined thanks to the Christian Calender!?
Now …After we see a little of the history of Carnaval, we can understand that what should happen would be a feast where we would eat meat because in Lent we would be able to fast. A feast where we would rejoice for after we will a great retreat of conversion and asceticism.
Unfortunately, we live a Carnaval that is a feast of sin, for a great majority of the population. Sexual live, violence, easy pleasures, drugs, alcoholic drinks, finally a feast of pleasure. But thanks be to God, we have seen grow year after year Carnaval Retreats, where thousands of people in Brazil have their personal encounter with Jesus, living the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
I want to invite you to not surrender to charms, to seductions of sin. Be Strong, Live PHN (Por Hoje Não, vou mais pecar–Today I will not sin) and, of course, come to participate in a Carnaval Retreat, for a Happy Carnaval is a Carnaval with Christ.
God Bless You
Emanuel Stênio
translated from Portuguese