Fasting Eve—Fasching—Carnival

1. The word ‘carnival’ is derived from the Italian carne (‘meat’) and levale (‘removal’), recalling the practice of abstinence from meat during the penitential season of Lent. It was originally used for the name of Shrove Tuesday, the eve of the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday). Derived from the Old English lengten (‘springtime,’ implying the lengthening of the days), ‘lent’ is the annual forty-weekday Christ…