Bohemian Carnevale

February is carnival season - a time of feasting and celebration that precedes the 40 days of fasting and contemplation of Lent.

Most people associate carnival with the spectacular parades of Rio de Janeiro or the masked balls of Venice, but few realize that it was once a major event everywhere in the Christian world, particularly in the big cities of Europe.

The Czech capital Prague is one of those cities trying to resurrect the extravagant carnival festivities of the past.

"February is such a terrible time in Prague," said Zlatuse Mueller, photographer, stage designer and director of the 2010 Bohemian Carnevale.

"It's cold and grey, so it's a good background for color," she explained. "This is the only way to survive in Prague - to have a nice party, to have a carnival like they used to in the old days."

For the past four years, Zlatuse and her architect husband Rostislav - both glamorous, creative people in their early 40s - have been on a husband-and-wife mission to resuscitate what used to be an annual rite of passage for the creme de la creme of Bohemian society: carnival.

Papier-mache volcano

The roots of the Bohemian Carnevale - Zlatuse prefers the Italian term rather than the English "carnival" or the Czech "masopust" - go back as far as the Middle Ages.

Carnival reached its peak, however, in Rudolfine Prague in the 16th century when the great Renaissance artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo was brought from Italy by the emperor to stage manage the festivities.

"There is a story that Arcimboldo built the volcano Etna from papier-mache on the Old Town Square," said Zlatuse Mueller. "It was huge. There were fireworks and animals screaming, and there was a magician, Ziffero, who opened the volcano."

As the story goes, allegorical parades streamed from the volcano and inside of it was the aristocracy, dressed in costumes associated with mythology, explained Mueller.

Arcimboldo spent 30 years working for the emperor's court in Prague, and another 30 in Turin, said Rostislav Mueller.

Mozart and Casanova

Later on, even composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Venetian writer and adventurer Giacomo Casanova were among the Bohemian glitterati who visited the annual Prague carnival. Mozart wore a gold mask and Casanova - then an elderly man living a rather unhappy retirement in North Bohemia - a mask made from black velvet.

Those masks have been lovingly recreated for the modern-day Bohemian Carnevale, which features masked balls in the city's palaces, parades in the chilly open air, and even special carnival menus in the city's restaurants.

The masks were in full display last weekend at the Carnevale's launch at the Baroque Clam-Gallas Palace, just a few steps from where Arcimboldo recreated Mount Etna on the Old Town Square.

"Europe has a long tradition of carnivals, especially Italy," said one of the merrymakers, Vesna Ravnak, dressed from head to toe in an elaborate Pierrot the clown outfit.

"I think Prague is a great background for it, because you have the buildings, the atmosphere, the people who like it," she continued. "I think this one will live on."

Ancient and modern

"I think the Bohemian Carnevale is both old and new," said another carnival-goer, Vladimir Koci. "In the countryside, the carnival is really a traditional thing - there are masquerades going through villages and so on. But what we can see here - the noble style of Baroque time, like in Venice maybe - this is really something new."

The newly-reborn Bohemian Carnevale started in 2007, and has been held each year since then. It's supported by the city council and the Czech Tourist Board as a way to promote the city's ailing tourist industry.

During the ten days of celebration, access to Prague's famous towers is free to those wearing a carnival mask, and for the braver carnival-goers, a special cruise down the icy River Vltava is on offer.

Inspiration from Venice

Rostislav and Zlatuse Mueller hope such events will help revive a Prague tradition that had all but died out by the late 19th century, after being banned by the spoilsport Hapsburg Prince of Metternich.

The Muellers take their inspiration from the now famous masked balls and processions of Venice. Few know that the Venice carnival has only been going for 30 years; it was reinvented in 1979 after a gap of two centuries, proof perhaps that decadence never goes out of style.

"In the period of Carnevale, you can do everything you want," said Zlatuse with a twinkle in her eye. "You can be someone else, because after Fat Tuesday comes Ash Wednesday, and Ash Wednesday will lead you to the 40 days of Lent, and finally springtime will arrive."

Looking out over the grey, frozen streets of Prague in February, anything is welcome to hasten the advent of spring, and banish the winter forever - at least for another year.

Author: Rob Cameron

Editor: Kate Bowen