1.
Guyana
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Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a sovereign state on the northern mainland of South America. It is, however, included in the Caribbean Region due to its cultural, historical. Guyana is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Suriname to the east, with 215,000 square kilometres, Guyana is the fourth-smallest country on mainland South America after Uruguay, Suriname and French Guiana. The region known as the Guianas consists of the large landmass north of the Amazon River. Originally inhabited by indigenous groups, Guyana was settled by the Dutch before coming under British control in the late 18th century. It was governed as British Guiana, with mostly a plantation style economy until the 1950s and it gained independence in 1966, and officially became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. The legacy of British rule is reflected in the political administration and diverse population, which includes Indian, African, Amerindian. Guyana is the only South American nation in which English is the official language, the majority of the population, however, speak Guyanese Creole, an English-based creole language, as a first language. In addition to being part of the Anglophone Caribbean, Guyana is one of the few Caribbean countries that is not an island in the West Indies, CARICOM, of which Guyana is a member, is headquartered in Guyanas capital and largest city, Georgetown. In 2008, the joined the Union of South American Nations as a founding member. The name Guyana is derived from Guiana, the name for the region that formerly included Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Guyana is derived from an Indigenous Amerindian language, there are nine indigenous tribes residing in Guyana, the Wai Wai, Macushi, Patamona, Lokono, Kalina, Wapishana, Pemon, Akawaio and Warao. Historically the Lokono and Kalina tribes dominated Guyana, although Christopher Columbus sighted Guyana during his third voyage, the Dutch were the first to establish colonies, Essequibo, Berbice, and Demerara. After the British assumed control in 1796, the Dutch formally ceded the area in 1814, in 1831 the three separate colonies became a single British colony known as British Guiana. Since its Independence in 1824 Venezuela has claimed the area of land to the west of the Essequibo River, in 1899 an international tribunal ruled the land belonged to Great Britain. Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966 and became a republic on 23 February 1970, the US State Department and the US Central Intelligence Agency, along with the British government, played a strong role in influencing political control in Guyana during this time. The American government supported Forbes Burnham during the years of independence because Cheddi Jagan was identified as a Marxist. In 1978, Guyana received international notice when 918 members of the American cult, Peoples Temple, however, most of the suicides were by Americans and not Guyanese
2.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
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The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian peoples of the Americas and their descendants. The term Amerindian is used in Quebec, the Guianas, Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives. Application of the term Indian originated with Christopher Columbus, who, in his search for Asia, eventually, the Americas came to be known as the West Indies, a name still used to refer to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This led to the blanket term Indies and Indians for the indigenous inhabitants, although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in the Amazon basin, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time, although some societies depended heavily on agriculture, others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires. Many parts of the Americas are still populated by peoples, some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico. At least a different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization, and subsistence practices. Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western culture and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples. The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are the subject of ongoing research. According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitation. During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the bridge of Beringia that joined Siberia to northwest North America. Alaska was a glacial refugium because it had low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of North America, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska for thousands of years. Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single population, one that developed in isolation. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10–20,000 years, around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets. Another route proposed involves migration - either on foot or using primitive boats - along the Pacific Northwest coast to the south, archeological evidence of the latter would have been covered by the sea level rise of more than 120 meters since the last ice age
3.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
4.
Carnival
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Carnival is a Western Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide. Carnival typically involves a public celebration and/or parade combining some elements of a circus, masks, people wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods proscribed during Lent is extremely common, the term Carnival is traditionally used in areas with a large Catholic presence. However, the Philippines, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, does not celebrate Carnival anymore since the dissolution of the Manila Carnival after 1939, in Slavic Eastern Orthodox nations, Maslenitsa is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent. In German-speaking Europe and the Netherlands, the Carnival season traditionally opens on 11/11 and this dates back to celebrations before the Advent season or with harvest celebrations of St. Martins Day. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is the biggest in the world, followed jointly by Barranquilla, Colombia, alternative names are used for regional and local celebrations. The origin may be from the Italian word carne or carrus, the former suggests an origin within Christianity, while the alternative links to earlier religions. Folk etymologies state that the word comes from the Late Latin expression carne vale, the word carne may also be translated as flesh, producing a farewell to the flesh, a phrase embraced by certain carnival celebrants to embolden the festivals carefree spirit. However, this interpretation is not supported by philological evidence, the Italian carne levare is one possible origin, meaning to remove meat, since meat is prohibited during Lent. Other scholars argue for the origin from the Roman name for the festival of the Navigium Isidis, the festival consisted of a parade of masks following an adorned wooden boat, possibly source of the floats. From the anthropological point of view, carnival is a ritual, in which social roles are reversed. Winter was thought of as the reign of the winter spirits, Carnival can thus be regarded as a rite of passage from darkness to light, from winter to summer, a fertility celebration, the first spring festival of the new year. Traditionally, a carnival feast was the last opportunity for people to eat well. Until spring produce was available, people were limited to the necessary meals during this period. On what nowadays is called vastenavond, all the winter stores of lard, butter. The selected livestock had already been slaughtered in November and the meat would be no longer preservable, all the food that had survived the winter had to be eaten to assure that everyone was fed enough to survive until the coming spring would provide new food sources. Several Germanic tribes celebrated the returning of the daylight, the winter would be driven out, to make sure that fertility could return in spring
5.
Georgetown, Guyana
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Georgetown is the capital of Guyana, located in Region 4, which is also known as the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is the countrys largest urban centre and it is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed Garden City of the Caribbean. Georgetown serves primarily as a retail and administrative centre and it also serves as a financial services centre. The city recorded a population of 118,363 in the 2012 census, the city of Georgetown began as a small town in the 18th century. Originally, the capital of the Demerara-Essequibo colony was located on Borselen Island in the Demerara River under the administration of the Dutch and it was the French who made it a capital city when they colonized it in 1782. The French called the capital Longchamps, when the town was restored to the Dutch in 1784, it was renamed Stabroek after Nicolaas Geelvinck, Lord of Stabroek, and President of the Dutch West India Company. Eventually the town expanded and covered the estates of Vlissengen, La Bourgade and Eve Leary to the North and it was renamed Georgetown on 29 April 1812 in honour of King George III. The ordinance provided that the districts of Georgetown shall be known by their own names. The supervision of Georgetown was to be done by a chosen by the Governor. Estimates of expenditure were to be prepared, by 1806 the owner of Vlissingen asked to be exempted from the responsibility of maintaining the road which is now called Camp Street, but the Court refused the request. In 1810 the maintenance of the roads in the area called Georgetown cost 11,000 guilders per annum, the governing body of Georgetown was once a Board of Police. The Board of Police was chosen by the governor and the Court of Policy and it came into existence as the result of disputes among various organisations which controlled the districts. The Board met monthly but what was discussed is not on the records between 1825 and 1837, newspapers in the colony were prohibited by law from reporting public matters. The post of Commisary of Police was not regarded as important, people elected to the Board invariably declined to attend meetings and never gave reasons for their refusal. It was, therefore, decided that individuals elected to the Board were bound to serve for two years, or suffer a penalty of 1,000 guilders, the Board of Police was abolished when an ordinance was passed to establish a Mayor and Town Council. Georgetown gained official city status on 24 August 1842 during the reign of Queen Victoria, the names of Georgetowns wards and streets reflect the influence of the Dutch, French and English who administered the town at different periods of history. Cummingsburg was originally named Plantation La Bourgade by its first owner and it was laid out in streets and building lots by its second proprietor, Thomas Cuming, a Scotsman, from whom it gets its current name. He made a presentation of the Militia Parade Ground and Promenade Gardens to the town as a gift and it is noteworthy that Carmichael Street was named after General Hugh Lyle Carmichael who served as Governor from 1812 to 1813
6.
Berbice
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Berbice is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1815 a colony of the Netherlands. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom in the year, it was merged with Essequibo. In 1966, British Guiana gained independence as Guyana, the capital of Berbice was at Fort Nassau until 1790. In that year, the town of New Amsterdam, which grew around Fort Sint Andries, was made the new capital of the colony, Berbice was settled in 1627 by the businessman Abraham van Peere from Vlissingen, under the suzerainty of the Dutch West India Company. Until 1714, the remained the personal possession of Van Peere. Little is known about the years of the colony, other than that it succeeded in repelling an English attack in 1665 in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Apparently some disputes arose between the Second Dutch West India Company, which was founded to succeed the First Dutch West India Company that went bankrupt in 1674, and the Van Peere family. This was resolved when on 14 September 1678 a charter was signed which established Berbice as a fief of the Dutch West India Company. In November 1712, Berbice was briefly occupied by the French under Jacques Cassard, in 1720, the five owners of the colony founded a Society of Berbice, akin to the Society of Suriname which governed the neighbouring colony, to raise more capital for the colony. In 1733, village which had sprung up around Fort Nassau was named New Amsterdam, the fort and the village were abandoned in 1785 in favour of Fort Sint Andries, situated more downstream, at the confluence of the Canje River. The new village was again named New Amsterdam, and is known by that name in contemporary Guyana. The relatively sound economic situation of the colony was dealt a blow when a slave uprising broke out under the leadership of Cuffy in February 1763. The uprising went on well into 1764, with Cuffy naming himself governor of Berbice. Only with the use of force was governor Wolfert Simon van Hoogenheim able to finally suppress the uprising. In September 1803 the British occupied the territory again, this time for good, in 1838, Berbice was made one of the three counties of Guiana, the other two being Demerara and Essequibo. In 1958, the county was abolished when Guiana was subdivided into districts, currently, historical Berbice is part of several Guyanese administrative regions and the name is preserved in the regions of East Berbice-Corentyne, Mahaica-Berbice, and Upper Demerara-Berbice. Berbice Creole Dutch, a Dutch creole language based on the lexicon, the Dutch Republic and The American Revolution, Honolulu, Hawaii, University Press of the Pacific, ISBN 0-89875-269-8 Hartsinck, J. J. Beschryving van Guiana, of de wilde kust in Zuid-America, Amsterdam, Gerrit Tielenburg Kars, dodging Rebellion, Politics and Gender in the Berbice Slave Uprising of 1763
7.
Carnival of Aalst
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The Carnival of Aalst or Aalst Carnival is a yearly three-day event in the Belgian city of Aalst. It recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, the carnival is celebrated in the days preceding Ash Wednesday. It is mainly a street happening, the dance on the city squares. The Aalst carnival has its origin in the Middle Ages, cavalcades were held since 1851, yet without organisation by the city council. Only the events starting from 1923 are counted as official editions, in 2010 the Aalst carnaval was awarded the status of UNESCO intangible World Heritage. The carnival starts on Sunday and ends on Shrove Tuesday, on the Saturday evening before, in the cultural centre De Werf a humorous city council session takes place, in which Prince Carnival receives the city key and local politicians are mocked with. The session is held in the dialect and not the city council. On Sunday the great carnival parade crosses the streets, a spectacle involving tens of thousands of visitors every year, over 100 floats are included, and since 1970 the carnival groups are only from Aalst itself. Apart from these groups also smaller loose groups participate, they lay their focus more on mockery. These small groups can count as many as 100 members, the Monday parade has a different atmosphere than the Sunday one, the floats dont follow the strict Sunday order of appearance. In the evening, prizes are awarded based on points given on Sunday, apart from that, also the yearly Broom Dance by the Gilles of Aalst takes place, followed by the onion throw. In the evening, just as on Monday, many squares are the centre of celebration. On Tuesday the Stoet van de Voil Jeanetten goes through the streets, in this parade, men walk around in womens clothes with as attributes a bird cage, a herring, fake breasts, corsets, a fur coat, a worn umbrella and a stroller. In the evening, a traditional effigy burning takes place to end the carnival event, since 1953, each year a Prince Carnival is elected, he can reign the city during the entire three-day event. Also Emperor Carnival plays an important role, to become Emperor, one needs to be Prince in three prior events
8.
Notting Hill Carnival
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In 2006, the UK public voted it onto the list of icons of England. Despite its name, it is not part of the global Carnival season preceding Lent, professor David Dabydeen has stated, Carnival is not alien to British culture. Bartholomew Fair and Southwark Fair in the 18th century were moments of great festivity, there was juggling, pickpocketing, whoring, drinking, masquerade — people dressed up as the Archbishop of Canterbury and indulged in vulgar acts. It allowed people a space to free-up but it was banned for moral reasons, Carnival allowed people to dramatise their grievances against the authorities on the street. Notting Hill Carnival single-handedly revived this tradition and is a contribution to British cultural life. Bartholomews Fair was suppressed in 1855 by the City authorities for encouraging debauchery, the roots of the Notting Hill Carnival that took shape in the mid-1960s come from two separate but connected strands. The other important strand was the hippie London Free School-inspired festival in Notting Hill that became the first organised outside event in August 1966, the prime mover was Rhaune Laslett, who was not aware of the indoor events when she first raised the idea. This festival was a more diverse Notting Hill event to promote cultural unity, a street party for neighbourhood children turned into a carnival procession when Russell Hendersons steel band went on a walkabout. By 1970, the Notting Hill Carnival consisted of 2 music bands, among the early bands to participate were Ebony Steelband and Metronomes Steelband. Notting Hill Carnival became a festival in 1975 when it was organised by a young teacher. Palmer, who was director from 1973 to 1975, is credited with getting sponsorship, recruiting more steel bands, reggae groups and sound systems, introducing generators, the carnival was also popularised by live radio broadcasts by Pascall on his daily Black Londoners programme for BBC Radio London. Notting Hill Carnival is very reminiscent of Jamaican dancehall sessions due to the sounding of the event creating a space, Notting Hill Carnival’s use of sound systems invokes cultural and personal associations for listeners, bringing about another space, or a home for populations of the Black Atlantic Diaspora. Physically, the dominance of the sound envelops the crowd, creating a setting for the Carnival even though there are no physical boundaries, the fact that the sound systems are in the streets precipitates an environment where participants hear the sounds before they can actually see the systems themselves. Emslie Hornimans Pleasance, with Kensal Green and Westbourne Park tube stations its closest tube station, has been the traditional starting point. By 1976, the event had become definitely Caribbean in flavour, during this period, there was considerable press coverage of the disorder, which some felt took an unfairly negative and one-sided view of the carnival. For a while it looked as if the event would be banned, prince Charles was one of the few establishment figures who supported the event. Concerns about the size of the event resulted in Londons then mayor, Ken Livingstone, an interim report by the review resulted in a change to the route in 2002. In 2003, the Notting Hill Carnival was run by a limited company, a report by the London Development Agency on the 2002 Carnival estimated that the event contributes around £93 million to the London and UK economy
9.
Nice Carnival
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The Nice Carnival is one of the worlds major carnival events, alongside the Brazilian Carnival and Venetian Carnival. It is held annually in February in Nice on the French Riviera, the earliest records establish its existence in 1294 when the Count of Provence, Charles Anjou, wrote that he had passed the joyous days of carnival. This may make the Nice Carnival the original carnival celebration, today the event attracts over a million visitors to Nice every year. The Carnival spans a period in February. Every year, a theme is chosen, and traditional artists create 18 floats. The parades take place day and night, while on the Promenade des Anglais, in 2017, the memorial to the 2016 Nice attack was dismantled in preparation for the carnival. Additionally, the route was moved from the Promenade des Anglais to the Promenade du Paillon
10.
Paris Carnival
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The Paris Carnival is a carnival in the city of Paris in France. It occurs after the Feast of Fools and has held since the sixteenth century or earlier. The Carnival of Paris is a festival with a long history in the French capital. Nicolas de Baye wrote in his journal in 1411, Monday, the 22nd of February, the household, in order to observe the Lenten feast. The central role of the class is illustrated, for example, by an anonymous poem of the eighteenth century, Always at these kinds of masquerades. They wail, We must watch our parades and this is something weve all treasured. Tomorrow well return to the grind, When Mardi Gras is, sadly, over, Food. Workers have always played a role in the celebrations. What is less known is the fact that the Carnaval de Paris is also, traditionally, during the nineteenth century, the involvement of butchers, launderers, traders, and students became essential to the liveliness of the Carnival. The variety, the composition, of the participants is found in carnivals throughout the world. Whether in Dunkirk or Brazil, tradition, organization, and the involvement of diverse segments of the population are essential for the well-being of the party, until the early-twentieth century, the Paris Carnival lasted much longer than just the one day, Tuesday of Mardi Gras. In 1690, in his Dictionary, Antoine Furetière wrote these words, dances, feasts, and marriages are mainly held at Carnival time. Sixty-two years later, in 1752, the Encyclopedia of Denis Diderot, the carnival begins the day after Epiphany, or the 7th of January, and lasts until Lent. Dances, feasts, and marriages are mainly held during carnival, however, the Carnaval de Paris has also endured a hiatus, it was interrupted between 1952 and 1997. Even today, many Parisians do not know that the carnival exists and these truly old jokes have survived from as long ago as the seventeenth century. During the hiatus the words Carnaval de Paris were seldom spoken, Parisians were always able to celebrate Mardi Gras, of course, they simply had to travel to Nice or Rio de Janeiro. The Carnaval de Paris has inspired great artists, the picture reproduced above was painted by Édouard Manet. It represents the famous masked ball at the Paris opera, which is held during the Carnival, the picture on the right is by Claude Monet, and it shows the Boulevard des Capucines where the processions take place
11.
Cologne Carnival
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The Cologne Carnival is a carnival that takes place every year in Cologne, Germany. Traditionally, the season is declared open at 11 minutes past 11 on the 11th of the 11th month November. The Carnival spirit is then suspended during the Advent and Christmas period. The time of merrymaking in the streets is officially declared open at downtown square Alter Markt on the Thursday before the beginning of Lent, street carnival, a week-long street festival, also called the crazy days, takes place between Fat Thursday and Ash Wednesday. The highlight of carnival is Rose Monday, two days before Ash Wednesday, all through these days, Cologne folks go out masqueraded. The typical greeting during the festival is Kölle Alaaf, every year three people are granted the titles of Jungfrau, Prinz, and Bauer, who pay a large sum of money for the privileges. The carnival prince is deemed to be the highest representative of the festivities, traditionally, the Jungfrau is always portrayed by a man dressed as a female. As an entity, the trio has existed since 1883, in earlier times these were individual characters, but all three entered the Cologne carnival in the 1820s. The prince, also called Seine Tollität, is the most important personage of the Cologne carnival and his float is the final one in the large parade on Shrove Monday. The naming as prince came as late as 1872, prior to it the name was Held Carneval and his attributes however remained unchanged, those of a regent, crown with peacock tail, a golden chain, a girdle with glitzy stones, white undershorts and a purple jacket. A sceptre in the hand, and a slapstick in the left one. The slapstick is known as a symbol of the fool, but specifically it is a fertility symbol. The peasant bears the title of Seine Deftigkeit, as Cologne is a large city, the peasant must be a stately guy. He expresses the boldness of the old privileged imperial city of Cologne, the sword and the flail symbolize his loyalty to the empire and his truthfulness. As the keeper of the city, he keeps the city keys at his girdle. The key symbolizes the heroes of the city militia contingent in the Battle of Worringen AD1288, the maiden, also called Ihre Lieblichkeit symbolizes the patronizing mother Colonia and is traditionally played by a man. Beard or moustache are forbidden for this role, from 1936-43, the maiden was ordered by Nazi authorities to be played by a real woman. The Cologne maiden wears a mural crown and this defender crown and her virginity symbolize the impregnability of the city
12.
Mainz carnival
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The Mainz Carnival is a months-long city-wide carnival celebration in Mainz, Germany that traditionally begins on 11 November but culminates in the days before Ash Wednesday in the spring. It is one of the largest carnival events in Germany and, along with the Cologne and Düsseldorfer carnivals, the tradition of carnival can be traced back to the Christian moveable feasts, where Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days before Easter. The first written records of the date from the 13th and 14th century. By that time, regulations against excessive gluttony and debauchery during the days before carnival had been established, the word „Fastnacht“ or carnival occurs for the first time during the 13th century. Details about the old Mainz carnival are not thoroughly covered in primary sources and he describes the celebrants engaging in crude jokes or, under the protection of their masks, excessive quarrelling. Simultaneously, huge carnival celebrations at the court happened, where the roles at the court were rearranged at random. In 1664 the prince elector drew the role of the electoral cabinetmaker and this habit was called „Mainzer Königreich“. This roleplaying tradition continued until the last elector, Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, during carnival time, the general public was allowed to attend the masked balls. With the end of the Ancien Régime, the carnival continued. The upper-class at that time celebrated costume parties, carrying on a tradition which had existed previously, in the latter city, reforms were made in the carnival in 1823, which introduced carnevalistic events in great halls, as well as a big parade on Rosenmontag. Like other carnival organizations in the Rhineland at the time, fees for joining were high enough that participation was restricted to the upper middle class. It was not until the mid-19th century that a proliferation of clubs, the clubs would meet weekly beginning in January to plan events for final week of carnival. The initiative for creating the first organization may be traced back to the merchant Nicolaus Krieger, January 19,1838 is the date of foundation of the Mainzer Carneval-Verein. This first carnival association of the town took over responsibilities as an organization and is still organizing the Mainzer Rosenmontagszug today. The associations first act was to plan a ‘carnival Monday parade’, the main features of the Mainzer Fastnacht have not changed substantially since 1838. In the beginning, the Mainz carnival was non-political, the activities of the carnivalistic organizations had been watched closely by the grand ducal authorities, but generally allowed to continue. This is indicated by the fact that some carnival associations had been allowed to be founded again and again, each 11 November they were refounded, and this was approved by the authorities. Within the 19th century this became a tradition
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