The French Riviera celebrates carnival

From February 15 to March 6, the city of Nice, in the South of France, is celebrating 140 years of its carnival with a float procession, giant papier-mâché characters and flower parades. The “King of the Five Continents” is reigning over the 129th Carnaval de Nice, the most important winter event in the French Riviera, in order to pay tribute to world diversity, but also, according to carnival tradition, to laugh at “nobility”.

However, among the thousands of tourists coming from all over the world, some are in search of the locale’s identity, popular charm and traditional roots of such a carnival.

The Nice Carnival is one the world’s main carnival events. In the beginning, the people of Nice were enjoyed rich and plentiful food before fasting for forty days, according to the Catholic tradition of Lent; this was by the 13th century. The most widely accepted etymology for the word “carnival” is actually “carne levare”, which translates as “away from meat”. The time of carnival was a period of merriment, and all overindulgences were allowed.