Whatever floats your float

It's the West Country's own Mardi Gras. Mervyn Hancock looks at the origins of carnivals, which will attract hundreds of thousands of people to our towns and villages in the coming months

FOR a whole year, they have been in hiding. Accountants, bank managers, refuse collectors, office workers, factory hands – even the odd journalist or two. They have been working on blueprints stored away from prying eyes in sheds and garages, and creating works of art worth thousands of pounds.

And soon, hundreds of thousands of people will turn out to view the results of those labours, as carnival returns to West Country towns and villages.

Hundreds of hours have been spent by dedicated carnival club members designing and building carnival floats – raising cash by organising events from fetes to coffee mornings, and working relentlessly to produce hours of fun, blazing lights, music and laughter. They call it the "biggest free show on Earth".

And that's no exaggeration, for our home- grown Mardi Gras range from clowns dancing in the streets to 100ft illuminated carnival floats (some with up to 30,000 light bulbs) pulled by tractors, and which produce a light show which can be viewed from outer space!

In 2008 there is no more important time in history for us all to support these carnivals, for they are a threatened species. Many are struggling to survive as a lot of money is needed to keep them going. Strict health and safety regulations have added to the cost resulting in some parades falling by the wayside, such as Yeovil Carnival, which has been cancelled since 2006 due to a lack of support. But this year there are still more than 20 parades – and that doesn't include smaller, village efforts.

So if the children are driving you mad, take them along to enjoy one of the big Somerset carnivals this autumn, and don't worry about letting your hair down – you will be in good company, for everyone who participates in the parades is actually indulging in voluntary madness – lunacy started back in ancient Rome, as a way of observing Lent and offering a chance to let off steam before the Christian symbolic penitence.

Before beginning their fast, the populace would literally indulge in a form of insanity, which involved wearing strange and often gruesome masks, eating to excess and drinking as much wine as possible.

Well – nothing's changed much there then! Perhaps we are a bit more restrained in the 21st century, but you still get normally, sensible businessmen dressing up as majorettes and dancing through the streets. The word "carnival" is derived from Latin, and has been interpreted as the time when people leave their flesh – not literally, of course, but you do tend to be rather silly and throw caution to the wind when you participate in, or watch the processions.

That's probably why the idea of masks was not only to entertain, but also to disguise the wearer's identity, and the famous masked balls held in Venice are a direct result of carnival.

When the Romans converted to Christianity, they could not forget their pagan festivals, and decided to still celebrate them, but in a much lighter way.

But travellers from other countries enjoyed the idea of annual festivals, and the carnivals soon spread to other lands – first to the rest of Europe, and then America.

Many of today's grand carnivals come from very humble beginnings, like the annual bash in New Orleans, which had its birth in 1827 when a group of students, who had returned from watching a festival in Paris, donned strange costumes and danced their way through the streets. Others joined in, had a good time, and one of the world's biggest carnivals had arrived – and is still with us.

At first it was just people in costume who filled the streets, but then revellers began looking for a stage on which to perform their antics. That stage had to be portable, and someone came up with the idea of pulling actors on a cart.

The Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1839 saw a single, huge, crude float being pulled through the streets. Today there are dozens of floats which bedazzle visitors from around the world.

When the first real carnival began, it was celebrated from December 26 and reached its climax the day before Ash Wednesday, also known as "Mardi Gras" (from French, meaning Fat Tuesday).

Silly games, singing and dancing were the order of the day. The more lavish the costume, the better. In fact, the design and cost of the costume was regarded as an important indicator of your social standing.

The most common of the earlier costumes (the baùtta) was composed of a black silk hood, a lace cape, a voluminous cloak (the tabarro), and a three-cornered hat and a white mask that completely covered the wearer's face.

This allowed revellers to go around incognito. It was useful to go to casini, places where you could play games of chance, or even visit the odd friend's wife or girlfriend – and keep that friendship intact. Here in the West Country, we have one Guy Fawkes to thank for the annual parades, which bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to our region each year.

Although Guy is the chap we all burn an effigy of on our bonfires each year, it was, in fact, a local lad who thought up the idea of blowing up the Houses of Parliament, and all the dignitaries within.

Robert Parsons, from Nether Stowey near Bridgwater, and his Catholic friends, wanted to put an end to the Protestants in Parliament. So on November 5, 1605, they sent Guy Fawkes into the cellars under the great building, to light the fuses on huge barrels of gunpowder. He was caught and now we all celebrate with fireworks and fires.

But the people of Bridgwater and the surrounding area had even more reason to celebrate. They were mainly Protestants and needed to let off steam after Guy Fawkes and their infamous neighbour had been dispatched. They began by building a huge fire at Cornhill, using a wooden boat and barrels of tar as fuel.

The idea was to have fun and get rid of the redundant craft in the area – but it came to an abrupt end when people started throwing any boats they could find on to the blaze. In fact, the first gangs probably came from Bridgwater.

They were groups of people who threw effigies of the Gunpowder Plotters on to the fires – eventually processing towards the fires, fuelled by copious amounts of local cider. Some people started dressing up, danced to impromptu musicians, and it soon became a carnival.

Bridgwater Carnival today still maintains old traditions. It is held close to November 5 and still features squibbing! The huge fireworks are held aloft by "squibbers" and huge sparks fly into the air.

Most of us call the huge lorries, which carry tableaux costing thousands of pounds in the procession, floats. But in Bridgwater they are known as carts, and – in the early days – carts would have been just that; small, hand-drawn (later by horse) decorated barrows. Now, sophisticated generators provide the power to light up the night sky with thousands of bulbs.

Neighbouring towns have followed the idea, and now there is keen competition each year, on the various Guy Fawkes, Wessex and Somerset circuits.

Today, September 6: Trowbridge, 7pm

Saturday, September 13: Mere, 7pm

Saturday, September 20: Frome, 7pm

Saturday, September 27: Shaftesbury, 7pm; Wellington, 7.30pm

Saturday, October 4: Gillingham, 7.30pm; Ilminster, 7.15pm

Saturday, October 11: Castle Cary, 7.30pm; Chard, 7.15pm

Saturday, October 18: Taunton, 7pm; Wincanton, 7pm

Saturday, October 25: Warminster, 7pm

Friday, November 7: Bridgwater, 7pm

Saturday, November 8: North Petherton, 7pm

Monday, November 10: Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge, 7.30pm