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You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Word “Carnival” For Self-Indulgent Celebration Originate and What Does it Mean?

Where Did the Word “Carnival” For Self-Indulgent Celebration Originate and What Does it Mean?

April 10, 2020 by Karen Hill

In the Christian calendar, Lent, a reverent and disciplined observance of Easter, begins on Ash Wednesday.

In the Middle Ages the faithful were forbidden to eat meat during Lent.

So the day before Ash Wednesday became known as Fat Tuesday, when everyone would overindulge in a Mardi Gras of what was about to be forbidden.

In Church Latin, came vale literally means “farewell to meat.”

How did the word carnival come to mean a self-indulgent celebration?

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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