Carnival, Carnaval, or Carnivale festivals, whatever the name depending on location, are typically thought of as occurring at the end of winter. Many do; however, today these festivals can be found in every month of the year. 1 And there is one thing they all have in common: they’re all carnal and vile. What are the origins of these festivals of the flesh, now celebrated in 50 countries around the world?
Some claim Carnival has its roots in Europe; others say Egypt or other African nations. Yet others say the source is in Babylon. Let’s find out, but first…
There is one carnival in the news recently that UNESCO was planning to consider at its Dec. 9-14 meeting, whether to remove it from the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage due to widespread complaints that this past spring’s carnival contained blatant anti-Semitism. But it’s not the first time, nor the second that there have been complaints.
I’m talking about the Aalst Carnival in Belgium. Its annual parade has floats specifically created to mock politicians, events in the news, etc. Officials in Aalst announced ahead of this meeting that they would remove the Aalst Carnival from the list themselves. They haughtily say they will not allow anyone to tell them who they can make fun of or how they go about doing it. Aalst’s mayor, Christoph D’Haese, says “Aalst will always remain the capital of mockery and satire,” and that mocking Jews is ‘unavoidable’ in the 2020 carnival. D’Haese also called the Jewish organizations that criticized the carnival “a power apparatus.” “They are well organized,” he said. “We have received messages from all over the world, often not in the friendliest terms.”
While you may not see scantily-clad women grinding their hips in the Aalst Carnival Parade like you see in all the others I’ve researched, including vile displays from the following crowds, there is debauchery to be found at this Aalst Carnival, most especially in the celebrations from dusk to dawn where “anything goes.” Here is what Aalst has to say about its Carnival:
“Aalst Carnival is full of ancient folkloric pagan traditions…passed down through the generations. Many of these traditions having rarely changed from their original form, which is why in 2010 it was recognized by UNESCO as being a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”
[My comment: Aalst is obviously proud of the pagan roots, as is UNESCO.]
The comment continues on the Aalst Carnival site:
“Everything is put on display and absolutely nothing is off limits, not religion, race, politicians or even celebrities… After dark is when the fun and debauchery begins… The night celebrations are wild and full of crass behavior… Anything and everything goes.” – source
This Aalst Carnival made the news this year for taking its “satirization” to a level that is unacceptable to a number of people. So, what is it that has caused outrage regarding this Carnival whose annual festival dates back 600 years to the Middle Ages?
Let’s start with the outrage. Fifty-eight Jewish organizations gathered in New York City on July 31st to address the ever-increasing scourge of anti-Semitism in the US, Europe and around the world. Various disturbing incidents were brought up that occurred in the past year, which you can read about in this article. While researching these incidents, I came across disgusting displays of anti-Semitism that have occurred at the Aalst Carnival.
This annual Carnival, a raucous 3-day event, takes place just before Catholic Lent begins (a 40-day fasting against meat, and can include giving up something else that one enjoys). The float display that was created as its 2019 theme was meant to address how “everything has become so expensive,” according to a spokesperson for the Carnival. It was titled “Shabbat Year” and featured caricatures of Orthodox Jews atop money bags. One of the caricatures had a rat on his shoulder. A platform following the float carried revelers who dressed like these puppets and danced to a song about “bulging coffers” and “Jews getting extra fat.”
In 2013, this event had a float resembling a Nazi railway wagon used to transport Jews to death camps. A poster on the wagon showed Flemish Belgian politicians dressed as Nazis who held canisters labeled Zyklon B, the poison used by Nazis to exterminate Jews in gas chambers in the Holocaust. The people who designed the float marched nearby dressed as Nazi SS officers and Haredi Orthodox Jews. These Nazi officers drank champagne and danced to German songs.
Supposedly, there was an anti-Semitic float in the Aalst Carnival parade in 2009 as well. Finally, after the outrage over this year’s mockery of the Jews, UNESCO was petitioned to review its “Heritage of Humanity” designation of the Aalst Carnival at their upcoming meeting in December.
The creators of the display were not the least bit regretful even after the backlash that followed. Aalst’s mayor defended it, saying “In Aalst it should be allowed.” – source
Some heritage of humanity!
The defenders of these anti-Semitic displays make the claim that it’s satire and all in fun. But the facts are that Aalst’s carnival is not the only entertainment in Belgium filled with anti-Semitism. Last August, when a Belgian soccer team celebrated their victory over a rival team that it considers Jewish, supporters of the Belgium team broke out with this chant: “My father was in the commandos; my mother was in the SS; together they burned Jews, because Jews burn best.” Such chants now occur at soccer matches in other European countries as well, whether the team they’re playing is Jewish or not.
I don’t like to quote from the liberal-left Haaretz; and the writer of the article on the Aalst Carnival, etc., at this link is a EU supporter and calls nationalism fascist. Speaking for the United States, our not wanting to be part of a global government has nothing to do with fascism. That said, the article mentions other disgusting instances of anti-Semitic crowds in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe.
Carnal and Vile, Every One of Them
Every Carnival parade I researched for this article had people from the crowds following behind who stopped along the way to perform simulated sex acts. (Even the “satirical political” parade in Aalst showed a gay simulated sex scene by one of the followers.) In a couple of the songs at the Carnivals I researched, I heard lyrics about performing sex acts, using the F word – even in a Carnival with the word “Saint” attached to its title. YouTube is full of the degeneracy at “Carnivale.”
Also, read this article, with photos, about the various carnivals and the history behind them: The Origins of Carnival– And the Special Traditions of Dominican Carnaval.
Carnival’s Pagan Origins
The ancient, wild festivals were centered around the winter and spring solstices, and spring and fall equinoxes. One cannot discuss the festivals without mentioning the false worship associated with them.
Babylon
It was here where the Tower of Babel was located and where God confused the speech of the builders. Babylon was a biblical symbol of the confusion that can be caused by godlessness. The earliest inhabitants were the Sumerians whom the Bible refers to as the people of the “land of Shinar.” A system of gods was established, with a temple in each city of the land. The temple-centered culture often held huge festivals. – source
Ancient Babylonian Festivals
Tablet fragments from the Neo-Babylonian period describe a series of festival days celebrating the New Year. The Festival began on the first day of the first Babylonian month, Nisannu, roughly corresponding to April/May in the Gregorian calendar. This festival celebrated the re-creation of the Earth, drawing from the Marduk-centered creation story described in the Enûma Eliš (the Babylonian creation myth).
Importance of idols
In Babylonian religion, the ritual care and worship of the statues of deities was considered sacred; the gods resided simultaneously in their statues in temples and in the natural forces they embodied. – source
The Enûma Eliš is recorded in Old Babylonian on seven clay tablets which describes [its false version of] the creation of the world, a battle between gods focused on supremacy of Marduk [also became Bel], the creation of man destined for the service of the Mesopotamian deities, and ends with a long passage praising Marduk. Its primary original purpose is unknown, although a version is known to have been used for certain festivals; there may also have been a political element to the myth. – source
Ancient Babylonia Fertility Rites
“Magico-religious ceremonies to insure an abundance of food and the birth of children. The rites, expressed through dances, prayers, incantations, and sacred dramas seek to control the otherwise unpredictable forces of nature. In primitive agricultural societies natural phenomena, such as rainfall, the fecundity of the earth, and the regeneration of nature were frequently personified.
One of the most important pagan myths was the search of the earth goddess for her lost (or dead) child or lover (e.g., Isis and Osiris; Ishtar and Tammuz; Demeter and Persephone). This myth, symbolizing the birth, death, and reappearance of vegetation, when acted out in a sacred drama, was the fertility rite par excellence.
Other rites concerned with productivity include acts of sympathetic magic, such as kindling of fires (symbolizing the sun) and scattering the reproductive organs of animals on the fields, displays of phallic symbols, and ritual prostitution. In India it was once believed that a fertile marriage would result if virgins were first deflowered by means of the lingam, a stone phallus symbolizing the god Shiva. Sacrifices of both humans and animals were believed to release the powers embodied within them and so make the fields or forests productive where the sacrifices had taken place. Many ancient fertility rites have persisted in modified forms into modern times.” – source
Babylon Had an Ishtar Gate
The main entrance to the inner city was called the Ishtar Gate. The portal was decorated with bright blue glazed bricks adorned with pictures of bulls, dragons and lions. The Ishtar Gate gave way to the city’s great Processional Way, a half-mile decorated corridor used in religious ritual to celebrate the New Year (spring equinox; beginning of the agricultural season). – source
Ishtar: Queen of Heaven
What is the identity of this Queen of Heaven? The reference was to an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess called Ishtar (also called Ashtoreth or Astarte by various other groups). In their system of gods and goddesses, Ishtar was believed to be the wife of the false god called Baal, [Bel], or Molech. As the wife of the chief male deity in these pagan-worshiping cultures, Ishtar became known by the name ‘Queen of Heaven.’
The reason people, especially women, worshiped this deity was based on the belief that this Queen of Heaven could bless a woman with fertility. Cakes and drink offerings would be given to this Queen of Heaven in worship. [The Israelites began to take on the worship of the false gods of the population around them, including worship of the queen of heaven goddess]. In response, the prophet Jeremiah told the people that such actions were the reason God destroyed Jerusalem and that false worship was not a source of blessing:
“It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day” (Jeremiah 44:23).
The Ten Commandments were clear that the people were to worship only the Lord. Worship of any other god or goddess, including the Queen of Heaven, was condemned. – source
Speaking of Baal (Bel; Molech): Also, in the news this week, Russia will team will Syria to reconstruct the Palmyra ruins in Syria which contain the Arch of Palmyra and the Temple of this pagan god to which the arch leads. Also involved is UNESCO, a UN branch, which named it a World Heritage Site. Like I said, UNESCO is obviously proud of pagan traditions.
“Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation” (Judges 10:14).
Baal was worshiped under his various names as the sun god, storm god, and a fertility god who could enable the earth to produce crops and people to produce children. Followers sacrificed their children, usually the firstborn, to this pagan god in order to gain personal prosperity. The babies were burned alive on the hot iron statue.
Speaking of Bel, Beltane is a Celtic word that means “fires of Bel.” Today, Pagans believe that, at Beltane, the God (to whom the Goddess gave birth at the Winter Solstice) achieves the strength and maturity to court and become lover to the Goddess. Some pagans believe fire has the power to cleanse, purify and increase fertility. Beltane, also known as May Day, is celebrated to this day by Wiccans and Neopagans, in which the union of the god and goddess takes place. Celebrants at these Beltane Festivals light fires, dance, feast and perform fertility rites [to put it mildly]. – source
Ancient Festivals in Egypt
Communal gatherings for worship [of their gods] took place during festivals, and as the Egyptians set a premium on enjoying life, there were many of them throughout the year. Particular images of the gods, sometimes carried in portable shrines, were taken out of the temple sanctuaries and carried through the streets or sailed on the Nile. Stations of the Gods were erected throughout the various cities in order to provide stages for the processions. A deity was thought to live in the statue housed in the inner sanctum of that god’s temple. The festivals marked the progression of the year, which would end in the same celebration with which it had begun, thus emphasizing the cyclical, eternal, nature of life.
The festivals in ancient Egypt were centered around the worship of their deities. There was feasting, drinking, singing and dancing. There was even a “Lady of Drunkenness” festival.
The Bast Festival honored the birth of the cat goddess Bastet who was the guardian of hearth and home and protector of women, children, and women’s secrets. Herodotus claims that Bastet’s festival was the most elaborate and popular in Egypt. Herodotus said, “women were freed from all constraints during the annual festival at Bubastis. They celebrated the festival of the goddess by drinking, dancing, making music, and displaying their genitals.” This “raising of the skirts” by the women exemplified the freedom from normal constraints often observed at festivals but also had to do with fertility. – source
This video shows roots in ancient Egypt, which is located in the continent of Africa. From there, Alexander the Great brought it to Greece, then it assimilated into Rome where it later became overlaid with Catholic [they call it Christian] meaning, hence the feast before the fast of Lent; and it became Carnivale. The word carne means meat, and the word vale means farewell.
Ancient Festivals in Greece
The carnival in Greece is said to have its origins in ancient Greece in the gods of Olympus. Dionysiaka, the origin of the Greek carnival, was a celebration in the name of ancient god Dionysus – god of wine- that used to be held around springtime, involving public parades. The advent of spring foreshadows the period of fertility… People who were on the floats used to wear masks and swear to the attendees, while other attendants – also dressed up and in masks – used to join the celebrations after the floats, singing satirical songs. – source
Dionysus (god of the grape-harvest, winemaking and wine, fertility, ritual madness, religious ecstasy) was believed to have been the son of Zeus and represented an underworld aspect of Zeus… The cult of Dionysus is a “cult of the souls”; his maenads (meaning “raving ones”) feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead. He is sometimes categorized as a dying-and-rising god. The Dionysia was a celebration of spring’s return and Earth’s regeneration. The festival included rituals dedicated to the souls of the dead whom ancient Greeks believe rejoined the living around March 1st. – source
Ancient Festivals in Rome
The Bacchanalia were Roman festivals of Bacchus, the Greco-Roman god of wine, freedom, intoxication and ecstasy. They were based on the Greek Dionysia and the Dionysian mysteries, and probably arrived in Rome c. 200 BC via the Greek colonies in southern Italy, and from Etruria, Rome’s northern neighbor. Like all mystery cults, the Bacchanalia were held in strict privacy, and initiates were bound to secrecy; what little is known of the cult and its rites derives from Greek and Roman literature, plays, statuary and paintings. – source
Carnival: Pre-Lent Festival
Carnival takes place in many Roman Catholic countries just before the Lenten season. The historical origin of Carnival possibly has its roots in a primitive festival honoring the beginning of the new year and rebirth of nature, though it’s also possible that the beginnings of Carnival in Italy may be linked to the pagan Saturnalian festival of ancient Rome. – source
Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the so-called ‘god‘ Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms. – source
African Roots of Carnival
A Catholic tradition brought to the colonies by the Spanish, French, and Portuguese since the 1500s, Carnival has become increasingly fused with traditions of African slaves and their descendants. Many of the rhythms, costumes, masks, and feathers in Carnivals in Caribbean countries can be traced to African festivals celebrated once upon a time, and even in places today. Enslaved masses, many from West Africa, brought with them to the Americas a variety of musical instruments, dance rhythms, and singing styles that gave birth to today’s Carnival sounds.
Originating from European religious events in celebrations of harvest, Carnival street parades were traditionally a way to honor the spirits or ancestors. It was the custom of many places in Africa for people to walk around the village, singing, dancing, and wearing carefully crafted masks and colorful costumes to bring good luck. These parades were meant to scare away spirits of angry dead relatives; thus, it’s no surprise that symbols of death are common in many Carnival street-parades today.
One aspect of Carnival recognizable worldwide is the use of masks and feathers. In Europe, masks are used to hide a person’s identity, whereas in the African tradition, masks are meant to bring to life some spirit. The colorful feathers used to decorate masks in major carnival regions of the Caribbean can be traced to some practices in African traditions. Feathers and other natural objects were believed to lend certain spiritual strengths to the wearer. – source
So, we see that, as Carnival spread, various cultures added their own elements to the festivals.
How the Roman Catholic Church Infused All this Paganism
For 280 years, the early church was horribly persecuted. Then, in 312 A.D., the Roman Emperor Constantine claimed to have had a miraculous conversion to Christianity – yet he still worshipped the so-called ‘sun god.’ Constantine and his successors gave their support to the bishop of Rome as the supreme ruler of the church. This way, they could make sure the Roman government and state religion would be centered in the same location.
Pagan rituals and idols were gradually incorporated into so-called “Christian” worship. For example: The pagan gods over the cities became “saints” over the cities. The pagan mother-with-son statues were renamed Mary and Jesus, and pagan rites and rituals became so-called Christian holy days.
Christians who opposed this blending of paganism with so-called Christianity were then persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church using the name of Christ.
Conclusion
The Bible and other recorded history show us that these celebrations and false religions have their roots in ancient Babylon. It all links back to false god and mother-goddess worship in Babylon, no matter the name changes through the various cultures and centuries. Babylon is the root of all false religion.
The Bible tells us that apostate Christianity would morph in the last days into the worldwide ecumenical religious system of the Tribulation called “Mystery Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of The Earth” (described in Revelation 17). We see this happening today with the push for all religions to unite, and we see the actual worshiping together of so-called Christians with non-Christians. The pope is calling all to Rome, to what he calls “the Mother Church,” insinuating that all paths lead to God (in his usual smooth and deceitful way of using ambiguous words to disguise his real purposes).
False pastors in the Protestant churches are leading their flocks down that same road.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times [speaking of the times beginning after Jesus’ ministry and ascension] some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:1-3).
“Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Mankind is without excuse.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature [creation; created things] more than [rather than] the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 1:18-25).
God warns about the last days religious and political Mystery Babylon. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities… How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow… And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth” (Revelation 18:4-5, 7, 24).
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Source showing that Carnival occurs in places throughout the year around the globe: