Paris Carnival - Street Activities

Street Activities

At street level, two types of event are traditionally part of the Carnival de Paris: the walk of masks, and the processions.

The walk of masks involves people in disguise in huge numbers, and the curious come to see them, at a given location at a given time. Here's what Dulaure says of this phenomenon in 1787 :

"Rue Saint-Antoine is famous for the prodigious contest of masks held every year on the last day of the carnival, which attracts a large number of the curious."

Other traditional events of the carnival are the parades and processions:

• The fat days occurred during "the last days of carnival", according to Dulaure. The "fat days" started during the eighteenth century, when they began on Thursday and ended five days later, on Mardi Gras. In the nineteenth century, they were restricted to Sunday, Monday, and Mardi Gras (Tuesday) only. They end when the Promenade du Boeuf Gras (Procession of the Fat Ox) begins.

• Twenty-one days after Mardi Gras is the Thursday of Mid-Lent (Mi-Carême). Mid-Lent is also called the Feast of Laundresses, for it is the feast day of their parade, and of their queens, and of the Queen of Laundresses. They inspired, during the last years of the nineteenth century, other guilds and unions to elect their own queens. Also known as the ‘’Vachalcade’’. Originally intended to be an annual event, it only lasted two seasons.