~ Carnevale ~

The aims of this Assignment are to familiarise yourself with the Resource Centre and to learn about these topics. Research and report on only one aspect of the topic of your choice. You will learn about the other aspects during sharing time. 

When you have chosen your topic, use the Pathfinder below to locate your information from the wide range of resources available within and beyond the Resource Centre. You may wish to make use of the web-notes template when selecting information from internet sites. 

Remember: Right click on a hyperlink to open it in a new window. You can then easily switch between windows and documents.

Possible Topics:

Carnevale

• The origins of Carnevale

• Il Carnevale di Venezia (Venice): people in costume assemble & parade, especially in Piazza San Marco.

• Il Carnevale di Viareggio (Versilia): floats that make fun of daily life or represent themes of comtemporary society.

• Some Commedia dell’Arte characters: Arlecchino (Harlequin), Pantalone (Pantaloon), etc

• Mask making : different materials, individual characteristics to denote mood (happy, sad)

• Festive Foods served at Carnevale: crostoli, cenci, frittelle, ravioli etc

• How Carnevale is celebrated in Adelaide: weekend feast at Rymill Park

Pasqua

• How Easter is celebrated in Italy (or in a particular Italian region)

• Religious celebrations that occur during Holy Week (la Settimana Santa)

• Festive Foods served at Easter: colomba (dove-shaped panettone), le uova di Pasqua, (Easter eggs), lamb, frittata (omelette), torrone (nougat)

• The Egg Symbol egg decorating, egg games, gifts inside eggs, frittata (omlette) etc.

Assessment Criteria

• Use your own words.

• Ensure that your writing in English is fluent, correct. (You may need to do some drafting) Your writing must be appropriately sequenced, with an introduction, body & conclusion.

• Include pictures or drawings, if possible.

• Include a few sentences or phrases in Italian 

• Write only about 2 pages.

• Write a bibliography. Right click here to open an online "Webliography" template, then you can record your internet sites for your bibliography as you go! Click here for more help on bibliographies.

Some General Information to help you

E` tempo di Carnevale! Bisogna festeggiare!

Carnevale means carne va = "the meat goes"

It is the period leading up to Ash Wednesday (Mercoledì delle ceneri) culminating with the celebrations of Martedì grasso = Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. Ash Wednesday signals the start of Lent ( L’Acquaresima = 40 days before Easter). Lent is meant to be an austere time, so people  let their hair down during Carnevale before Lent starts.

There is a saying, A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale (se non fa male) - "It is OK to be a prankster." E` la festa della disubbedienza!

In order to do this, people get dressed up in costumi & wear maschere. Bisogna mascherarsi!

Lots of parades, dances & parties occur throughout Italy. Buon divertimento!

Different cities have particular ways of celebrating Carnevale.

Buona Pasqua! Lots of things occur in Italy during la Settimana Santa (domenica delle palme, giovedì santo, venerdì santo, sabato santo, la domenica di Pasqua)

This page was updated on June 23 2003