"Carnelevarium" is Latin for "removal of meat" and is the origin of the English word "carnival" or "carnevale" in Italian. As with so many other religious feasts, the carnival tradition arose from practical necessity during the changing of the seasons and from overlapping cultural customs over the centuries.  It marks the end of the winter season in the Kirkos Caravan calendar, as it is immediately followed by the Liturgical season of Lent, which means "spring" (more on that in the next post). 

"Fat Tuesday", or "Martedi Grasso" in Italian, was the last day to consume all the foods that were off-limits during the forty days of Lent. Without refrigerators to preserve these foods during that time, parties were held in homes and among neighbors and special recipes and traditions arose in different regions of the Catholic world (pancakes, frappe, castagnole...the list goes on).

Masquerade balls and costume parades, like the spectacular tradition that is still going strong in Venice and several other cities and towns in Italy, reflect a continuation of Roman pagan festivals around the vernal equinox in which the established order was turned on its head. Agricultural societies (which were virtually every society up to the Industrial Revolution) recognized a natural symbolism in this revelry that was not lost on Christians (more on this until the next post!). On a practical level, the impending season of sobriety, Lent, gave rise to a last rush of revelry that over time grew to be a tradition. Catholic Customs and Traditions by Greg Dues is a resourceful guide to this and other traditions associated with the Liturgical calendar.

As explained on the Ringmistress' other blog, romeandremus.blogspot.it, the Roman city coffer's were empty this year for Carnevale funding after extravagant productions in years past and the current economic situation in Italy and the many other countries around the world. However, at the last minute a less expensive public initiative was organized: "Fori in Maschera". The Via dei Fori Imperiali, which runs through (and over) the Roman Forum, was closed to traffic so that it could be filled with costumed pedestrians and street performers. Alas, due to non-festive obligations such as work and homework, the Kirkos Caravan only arrived at the tail end of these festivities and caught just a few photos of the masquerading stragglers. 

The previous evening we did celebrate the season in a traditional way, however, by going to the theater to see an unique production of "Pinocchio", that classic Italian tale about a puppet, human nature, and redemption. Author and University of  Virginia professor Vigen Guroian has spoken and written about the symbolism of Pinocchio at the Kirk Center- beautiful commentary that I will have to share with you in a separate post. 

The carnevale season is a time not just to dress up in costumes and masks but also to see live performances of professional masked and costumed performers--puppet shows, Commedia dell' Arte, and wandering minstrels all magically appear throughout the city at this time of year. The Pinocchio show we took in was at the Teatro Ghione near the Vatican. A famous Italian actor, Pino Ammendola, played the part of a father recounting the story of Pinocchio to his son as a bedtime story with the surprise ending that the father himself had been the wooden puppet redeemed by the Blue Fairy and transformed into a human being (thereby making it possible for him to later become the father whose son was hearing the story for the first time). Magical Maya will debut as the Blue Fairy in her Italian school's production of Pinocchio later this year, so the outing was undertaken not only for entertainment, but also for a bit of Kirkos Caravan research!

Finally, in a last-ditch effort to squeeze out every last drop of the Carnevale Romano season before Lent, we went to a parish party at Regina Pacis church in our neighborhood. After surviving that sugar-fueled chaos, the Kirkos Caravan welcomes the sober season of Lent with welcome arms. May the journey toward renewal, Easter, and Spring begin!

Buon Onomastico! That means "Happy Name Day" in Italian and today we heard it frequently when celebrating wee Valentina's first "onomastico" in Rome. In honor of her namesake, we took her to light a candle in front of the skull of St. Valentine in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. It may sound macabre, but paying visits to holy relics is quite commonplace in Rome- in fact, it is one of the reasons Rome is such a pilgrimage destination. Santa Maria in Cosmedin (which means "ornamented" or "adorned with beauty") is a Greek Melkite Catholic church built atop an intact tiny temple of Herucles. Despite its impressive history and beauty, the church is best known for a huge stone face on a wall of its portico dubbed "The Mouth of Truth". Made popular by the film "Roman Holiday", tourists line up to tentatively put their hand inside its open mouth. According to a medieval legend, liars get their hands bitten off. We bought a tiny replica to test our children's honesty when necessary...

Here is a post on the Roman origins of the Feast of St. Valentine from my blog Rome and Remus in 2012, before Valentina was even a glimmer in her father's eye. 

St. Ambrose, the honey-tongued doctor of the Church, has a fun story for tellers. Credited with converting the great St. Augustine, overcoming the Arian heresy in Milan, and inspiring the Ambrosian rite of Milan, St. Ambrose nearly escaped this legacy by running away- literally. When Ambrose, then the governor of the city, was popularly elected to succeed the Arian bishop of Milan (even though he was not yet baptised) he attempted to run away and hid in a senator's home. He appealed to the emperor to overturn his election but the emperor too was impressed with his character and believed Ambrose was just what the Church needed. Ambrose resigned himself to his fate and then embraced his new mission with passion. He studied Scripture with St. Simplician, gave up all his property, and became such an eloquent theologian and peace-maker that legends arose that honeybees would gather at his lips when he preached.

As one of the proud founders and owners of the AA Honey Farm, I couldn't let this honey-themed day pass without a bit of praise for the liquid gold. In honor of St. Ambrose, here is a simple recipe for Ancient Roman Honey Cake. 

Beekeeping is major part of the Kirkos Caravan's homesteading studies curriculum, not only because it's our business, but also because it's such an interdisciplinary subject. One-third of the produce we all eat is pollinated by bees- just one example of how bees are a crucial part of ecology. Here's a fascinating documentary on life in the hive from Nova, and here's one on the plight of the honeybee and the need for an increase in the number of small scale beekeepers around the globe.

Back to storytelling and bees-- during the KC Autumnal studies, our favorite story to emerge was that of "The Beekeeper and the Bewitched Hare", a Scottish story illustrating the special relationship between beekeepers and their bees. It was passed on to us by the same storyteller who passed on "The Baker's Dozen", and we in turn passed it on to students at a bonfire this Autumn. Here's a video of a Scottish storyteller relaying the tale.