Carnival
17 February 2026 · movable holiday — Masks, feathers and bells! Let the sky dance too!
Carnival is a season of masks, music, parades and laughter before the start of Lent. The word is often linked to Latin phrases meaning farewell to meat, though its origin is explained in several ways. The final day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, is called Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday) in many places. The best-known celebrations are in Rio de Janeiro, with its samba parades, and in Venice, with its historic masks. Bulgaria has a related tradition in the kukeri games: masked men in shaggy costumes and heavy bells chase away evil spirits and call for a fertile year. The date moves because it depends on Western (Catholic) Easter, which is set by the Sun and the Moon: it falls on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March, the church’s fixed date for the spring equinox. So even this noisiest of festivals keeps time with the sky.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and thin lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky: a feathered carnival mask trailing sparkling confetti-stars, with a small shaggy kuker figure beside it, its bells drawn as tiny glittering points
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