In this article, I will be telling you what I learned about Carnaval here in Latin America. While Carnival is celebrated throughout Central and Latin America, both are celebrated in the summer. What makes Carnaval here different from Carnival in Mexico, is that the summer season is from November to February, while summer in Mexico is from June to August/September. In this article, I will give you guys a brief look into the Carnaval celebrations in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Within my first month in Argentina, I got to celebrate Carnaval, which is a four-day celebration (Saturday- Tuesday) that occurs in February or early March. Carnaval is a huge cultural and religious celebration that occurs right before Lent. Lent is the 40 days before Easter in the Catholic and Christian Church, in which Jesus fasted in the desert and persevered against Satan's temptations. So for these 40 days, people usually give something up during this time. This is a time to reflect on what Jesus sacrificed, and people usually are on their best behavior during this time. Carnaval is the last big celebration, where kids will pull small pranks, and be mischievous, and within this celebration, people let loose and give into their temptations and "sins" before they have to give them up.
