Aruba Carnival History

Below is a brief history of Carnival, however if you are interested in an in-depth account of rituals and historic transformation, I recommend Rituals of Power & Rebellion: The Carnival Tradition in Trinidad & Tobago, 1763-1962.
You can find this, and other great books about Carnival in the Caribbean at Aruba-Sunsets online store.

The History of Carnival starts thousands of years ago. The festival was originally a pagan ritual meant to sweet-talk the gods of nature for good weather for planting and reaping a bountiful harvest.
Pre-Christian Romans saw late winter as a time for cleansing the soul and chasing away the unfavorable spirits of the dark and cold in order to be ready for a fresh beginning in the spring. During this ritual of preparation, the Romans would eat and drink in over abundance. They would make offerings to their dead relatives as well as to the gods.
The early Jews also celebrated a similar spring festival that was later merged with the fasting of Passover. When the early Christian church was unable to stop these annual festivities, the priests adapted them to suit the churches new teachings.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and a period of repentance, calculated on the calendar to fall 40 days before Easter, (or Passover on the Jewish calendar). In 1091 AD, The Catholic church declared that Lent begin at the end of the existing three-day pagan feast in February. Eventually everyone forgot the original intention of the spring celebrations, and the days preceding Lent became simply a time to go a little wild.
Italians were the first to celebrate the modern idea of Carnival. They dressed in elaborate costumes, hid their identity behind masks, and danced in the streets, eating and drinking vast quantities of wine, liquor and food. These celebrations became famous throughout Europe and spread to France, Spain and Portugal.
The history of Carnival continued when European explorers began to colonize the Americas, and they continued to celebrate the customs of Carnival.
In the early 1800, African slaves, Arawak Indian slaves, and indentured servants from China, and India, did most of the labor on the Caribbean islands. Their customs were eventually incorporated into European colonists’ traditions of Carnival.
Masks and costumes were worn to ward off evil spirits or placate those that must be charmed into granting good luck. Music and dance was performed to petition the gods of nature to grant fertility and health to the people, plants and animals.
Many parts of the New World welcomed Carnival as an annual springtime celebration. In the United States, the most well known festival is Louisiana’s Mardi Gras, a flamboyant celebration of Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. A Carnival celebration influenced by French colonists, native America Indians, and African slaves.
Barbados, Jamaica, Granada, Trinidad, Dominica, Haiti, Cuba, St. Thomas and Netherlands Antilles are a few of the Caribbean Islands that were known to put on elaborate Carnivals.