Carnaval!

the long version

"Carnaval, Carnival, Fasnacht, Entroido - the annual pre-Lenten festival most people in the United States know as Mardi Gras - is celebrated in cities and rural villages throughout Europe and the Americas. With more than 300 photographs, this book offers an international look at Carnival in New Orleans and Basile, Louisiana; Laza, Spain; rural Bulgaria; Venice, Italy; Basel, Switzerland; Tlaxcala, Mexico; Oruro, Bolivia; Recife and Olinda, Brazil; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti." "Whatever deeper religious or civic significance Carnival may hold for its participants, it is always a time of play, conviviality, and fantasy, a time when alternatives to the status quo can be imagined and people can feel unleashed from everyday restraints. This book is a joyous celebration of this many-faceted festival and a tribute to those who have kept their Carnival traditions alive."--Jacket.