I like to give you a view on the "Carnevale del Veneto" (=Italian)   Click on the little photo's for a larger size !                                 First, what is carnaval??? Carnival is a festival season. It occurs immediately before Lent. Lent, in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter.  The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where, according to the Bible, he endured temptation by Satan. Different churches will calculate the forty days differently.   The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, as celebrated during Holy week, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Western Christianity, Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saterday ( the saterday before Easter) The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death. The main events are usually during February or March. It typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations. Carnival is mostly associated with Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Orthodox Christians; Protestant areas usually do not have carnival celebrations. The world's largest carnival celebration is held in Brazil but many countries worldwide have large, popular celebrations, such as Carnival of Venice in Italy. I myself, don't like carnival, because it's most of the time an excess of debauchery concerning  extreme  sexuality and drinking very much alcohol. For me an exception is the carnival in Venice [ although I don't know what happens behind the curtains, ; ) ]  I love the costumes and masks, please HAVE A LOOK!!   MASKS - Venetian masks can be made in leather or with the original papier-mâché-technique. The original masks were rather simple in design and decoration. They often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are all hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate. Most masks sold in the tourist shops in Venice have nothing to do with the original Venetian masks.        The costumes are beautiful in the most little details  and I like the colours they use, not three different colours, but not more than two, quite close to each other, combinated with white and gold or plate.