Carnival has its origins in Pre-Christian festivals intended to drive out winter and prepare the way for spring. These festivals typically involved a feast where rich food such as meat, lard and butter would be consumed followed by a fasting period before food could be grown again in the spring. This feast was timed so that the food could be consumed before it went bad. The festivals also involved processions honoring a fertility goddess, people in disguises, and ships placed on wheels resembling modern floats.
As Europe became Christian, these festivals continued and took up almost the entire period between Christmas and Lent. Church leaders frequently spoke out against these pagan customs and the excess associated with them. However, they eventually began to accept the festivals and Christianize and giving them a place in the liturgical calendar. Although they became an integral part of the Church calendar, they retained many of the pre-Christian traditions. Many of the best known traditions, including parades and masquerade balls, originated in medieval Italy. The most famous of these was the Carnival of Venice, famous for its distinctive masks and eventually banned by Napoleon in 1797 and not revived until 1979. From Italy carnival spread to Spain, Portugal and France and from there to the New World, especially New France (specifically the Gulf Coast), the Caribbean and Brazil.
Today, Carnival is celebrated throughout the world, wherever there is a Catholic presence and has even been adopted by non-Catholics as a reason to celebrate during the dark days of winter. In the United States, where carnival is better known as Mardi Gras from the French for “Fat Tuesday” which is the day before Ash Wednesday, the most famous celebration occurs in New Orleans. But the largest carnival celebrations today occur in Brazil, with the Rio Carnival being the largest. Approximately 2 million people visit the Rio Carnival each day to witness the parades and performances by the various Samba schools. No matter what your reason for celebrating it, for Catholics, carnival represents one last celebration before the more somber days of Lent begin.