Put on your finest Carnevale mask and costume and join the revelry, as Fremantle’s streets come alive for next month’s 2012 Fremantle Carnevale. Carnevale is an annual community festival in many parts of the world which features masked and costumed high jinks, theatre, dance, music and mockery of established authority. Fremantle’s fourth annual ‘Festival of Misrule’ is inspired by European or Latin American Carnival traditions and aims to temporarily turn the normal social order on its head. 
Friday 10 February KULCHA Upstairs, 13 South Tce Opening of the Carnevale of the Peoples Republic Of Fremantle 6:30 pm Fremantle Carnevale Art Exhibition 7.30 pm 
Tickets: $20/$12 from http://www.trybooking.com/BDFX or at the door if not sold out! Thursday 16 February KULCHA, 8:00 pm  Featuring
Tickets: $20/$12 from http://www.trybooking.com/BDFZ or at the door from 7.30pm if available! See the event on facebook and share! Saturday 18 February, King’s Square 4.00-5.30pm Children's Carnevale Convergenc 
Saturday 18 February King's Square 5:30pm
 8:00 pm KULCHA - Upstairs 13 South Tce
 Featuring
(costume obligatory or mandatory face painting on entry). Tickets $30 available soon at www.kulcha.com.au or ph: 9336 4544  Tuesday 21 February KINGS SQUARE to CLANCY'S FISH BAR 6:00 pm Mardi Gras / Shrove Tuesday Trial and Funeral of Carnevale Follow the traditional Mardi Gras mock funeral procession afterwards to Clancy's Fish Pub for the Carnevale ‘wake’ and a performance by The Junkadelic Roving Brass Band to mark the group's 10th anniversary. From Monday 6 February Fremantle Cafes Look for images of Angelo Maggio’s photographic exhibition 'Carnevale in the Italian Countryside’ in Fremantle cafés More info: ph: 0421 389 013 or email: info@fremantlecarnevale.org
Fremantle Carnevale is supported by the Office of Multicultural Interests WA; KULCHA; Artproof Printing Company; City of Fremantle; Stageworks. Previous Carnevale's
What is Carnival? In many parts of the world, communities spend months each year preparing for the annual ritual of collective excess and abandon known as Carnival (Carnevale in Italian; Carnaval in Spanish and Portuguese; Karneval in German; Carnestoltes in Catalan and so on).  The Carnival period usually lasts from mid January until the last day of Carnival, known variously as Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras or Martedi Grasso. The following day, Ash Wednesday, ushers in Lent, the forty day period of fasting, abstinence and repentance instituted by the Catholic Church in the lead up to Easter. The name ‘Carnival’ is believed to derive from the Latin carne vale – ‘farewell to the flesh’ – signifying the last possible moment for indulgence before Lent.  Others have linked the origins of Carnival to the Roman midwinter festival of Saturnalia, which was presided over by a King or Lord of Misrule, during which slaves were allowed temporary liberty to do as they liked. Carnival aims to ‘turn the world upside down’ by a ritualised inversion of normal social roles through masquerade, cross-dressing and satire of establishment figures such as politicians, the Church, army and police.  Carnival has often provided an outlet for popular expressions of discontent with the ruling classes, and was actually banned in Spain during Franco’s Fascist dictatorship, under the pretext that the Carnival practice of disguising one’s identity with masks might provide cover for leftist insurgents to launch surprise guerrilla attacks during Carnival.  One Carnival poet from Andalucía in Southern Spain describes the function of Carnival as follows: Carnival is a newspaper. It gives the news of what happened during the year. It criticises, it comments. It concerns itself with politics… Carnival is made by the poor people. Perhaps it attacks most the political bosses in power…anybody who did something wrong… The Fremantle Carnevale is organised by community members, we welcome your involvement. Click here to contact Carnevale organisers. |
