Guinea-Bissau Carnival Festival

Introduction to Guinea-Bissau
 
Contents
 
1. Introduction to Guinea-Bissau

2. Origins of Carnival Festival

3. Adoption of Carnival Festival

in Guinea-Bissau

4. Carnival Festival in Guinea-

Bissau
The Association of
Guineans, Naturals and
Friends of Guinea-Bissau
(AGNAGB) in Macau
Special Administration
Region of China (MSAR)
welcome you to this event
on this beautiful city of
Macau where the Occident
blends with Orient since
1557. Macau has been
more than four centuries
bridge between the great
China and Portuguese
Speaking Countries.
 
Guinea Bissau is a tiny tropical country in West Africa with an area of
36.125 square kilometers (land: 28,120 sq km and water: 8,005 sq km)
generally hot and humid with a rainy season (June to November) with
southwesterly winds and dry season (December to May) with
northeasterly winds with. A country with plenty of natural resources
namely fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone,
unexploited deposits of petroleum.
The country has variety of landscape with rich in tick forests and
plateaus on the inner part and numerous mangrove swamps and
beautiful unexplored sandy beaches in the coast line with approximately
350 sq Km. The reason why a huge portion of this country is an
international reserve of the biosphere as shown on the map. On its
insular part, in other words, Archipelago dos Bijagós and Bolama island
teeming with turtles, sharks, manatees and rare types of hippopotamus
that live in salty water. The beautiful area of Natural Park of Cantanhez it
is also a protected area with secular trees where birds, monkeys and rare
species find their habitat.

A population of not more than 1.7 million habitants comprised by more

than 20 ethnic groups that define its cultural mosaic comprised, but no
limited, to the tribes such as Fulas, Mandingas, Pajadincas, Manjacos,
Brames, Banhus, Bijagós, Beafadas, Sossos, Tandas, Papéis,
Mancanhas, Balantas, Felupes, Nalus, Mansonques, Saracolés. Like
Macau, its official language is Portuguese and share some common
  identity, history, language diversity, and Portuguese architecture on its
Mediterranean style houses, among several others, institutional, social
and cultural heritage.
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Origins of Carnival Festival
Brief History on Carnival Festival Origins
The carnival festival is celebrated
since thousands years BC. Non
catholic people celebrated the
return of the spring season that
represents the reborn of the
nature according to Greek’s
mythology. Festivals were done
on 17 December and 15 of
February by Greeks and Romans
in honor of their Gods Saturn and
Pan. Men, women and children
with masked faces and painted
bodies  and painted bodies to
scare bad spirits of bad harvests
in Egypt it seems to a festival to
pay homage to their Isis Goddess
2000BC. It is also said that the
carnival festival origin date back
to the ancient Greek spring
festival in honor of Dionysus, the
god of wine. The Romans adopted
the celebration with Bacchanalia
(feasts in honor of Bacchus, the
Roman equivalent to Dionysus),
and Saturnalia, where slaves and
their masters would exchange
clothes in a day of drunken
revelry. Saturnalia was later
modified by the Roman Catholic
religion in Italy where was started
the tradition of holding a wild
costume festival right before the
first day of Lent leading up Ash
Wednesday. It quickly evolved
into a massive celebration of
indulgences - one last gasp of
music, food, alcohol, and sex
before Lent - before the 40 days of
personal reflection, abstinence, and
fasting until Easter (not exactly
what the Church probably had in
mind). 40 days of purging sins,
preceded by a week filled with
virtually every known sin. The
origin of carnival festival is not
known and a polemic subject. The
word carnival itself comes from
Latin, "Carnevale" or "Farewell to
the Flesh" which means “to put
away the meat.” as the French,
Spanish, and Portuguese began to
take control of the Americas and
other parts of the world, they
brought with them their tradition of
celebrating carnival.
As time passed, carnivals in Italy
became quite famous and in fact
the practice spread to France,
Spain, and all the Catholic
countries in Europe. As the French,
Spanish, and especially the
Portuguese began to take control of
the Americas, Africa and Asia and
other parts of the world, they
brought with them their traditions
and among them the celebration
Carnival Festival.
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Adoption of Carnival in Guinea-Bissau
When the Portuguese Navigators The masks and feathers in general
 
arrived to Guinea-Bissau in 1446, are made in wood colored or
they found this small country darkened with fire and decorated.
 
with a huge and rich cultural They have different meanings,
representations and use from one
diversity. This culture varies
culture to another. The masks
from one group ethnic to used to scare the bad spirits and
another. This is also the source evil are usually very ugly. Some
 
of different traditional songs, are reserved only for some special
rhythms, music styles and traditional manifestation of power
mystic dancing. The over the other animals and
species of the nature for
performance of the spectacular
differentiation of the status of a
and colorful magic person on its community, religious
choreographies combined with rituals among several other
  usage of different kinds of purposes.
masks, haircuts, special clothes,
body painting, tattoos, body
dresses for arm, legs and heads
and artistic expressions are
present on cultural rituals for
purpose such as: ethnic
identification, parties and
marriage, appeal of fortune and
scaring of bad spirits, mourning
or funerals, traditional health
care, stimulate and motivate
workers, as well as, bring good
luck during the plantations on
rice fields or wars and
celebration of end of
adolescence and beginning of an
adult stage.

 
 

 
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Carnival Festival in Guinea-Bissau

Carnival Festival from Guinea-Bissau came from the Portuguese Entrudo
  tradition. The word “entrudo” comes from the Latin word “introitus”,
meaning introduction. So is a social excuse for families and friends to
introduced themselves, to warn one another or to pay a visit to “play
entrudo”. Entrudo was full of warlike acts where with lemon water bombs,
bowls or tube of urine, tubes of perfume or dirty water and other carnival
balls, were thrown from windows to the streets. During the Entrudo
people also wear artificial noses and moustaches and similar costumes.
Entrudo gradually gave way to actual Carnival Festival that evolved
quickly after 1974 after the independence of the country.

Our Carnival Festivalthe European style was followed but after it became
a manifestation of common social and artistic identity of the Guineans.
 
Since then, people make respectful use of their ancestral symbols,
worships, traditions, dances and rituals on this festival that called is
Carnival but indeed it became a cultural extravaganza event in Guinea-
Bissau. They, body paintings, traditional ways of dressing such raffia
skirt with strings of seashell, tiny mirrors and trees among several other
natural raw and tropical exotic materials that are typical from the.

The Carnival Festival in Guinea-Bissau, as any other worldwide, takes

place over the four days before lent that usually falls on mid February
every year that is a period blessed with wonderful weather, sunshine and
fresh breeze. A great season where a the diversity of lively melodies
from cow horns, wooden and water drums, balafon among other
 
traditional instruments spreads everywhere reverberating joy,
amusement, a pleasant memories and magnificent party environment
through the streets of all cities of Guinea Bissau during. The maximum
expression of Carnival Festival can be seen in Bissau de capital of
Guinea-Bissau.

As on the carnival celebration of Brazil or Latin America or Venice in

Europe in general there is parade and masquerade in Guinea-Bissau’s
Carnival but without any power-driven cavalcades and expensive
costumes yet.

There are artistic parades organized for feathers, masks and dancing
groups where thousands of men, women and children without any
binding to beliefs, religion, taboos and ethnic groups associates freely
Visite o nosso blog: wearing traditional costumes and masks from their tribes or other ethnic
groups as a manifestation of respect and appreciation to other cultures.
Everybody try also to bring to the streets their rituals to bring fortune
and good health to everyone dancing rituals to glisten the streets of all
cities of Guinea-Bissau.