Carnival and "Mardi-Gras". [French Folks Traditions] part 3 : Personifications of Carnival.
Often cited as entities, they are found embodied by people, and later, by mannequins made for the occasion. They are sometimes accompanied by their companion: "Mardi-Grelle" or "Pansartine" ; "grelle" which could be a reference to hail or smallpox, in french.
These symbolic representations are carried in processions and often end up burned or drowned on Shrove-Tuesday or Ash Wednesday, sometimes after a trial in which they are accused of all the debauchery of Carnival.
Two theories clash : either it is a link to the scapegoat as found in the Bible, or a survival of an ancient pagan rite signifying the end of winter. Perhaps both.
[Brughel the elder, the fight between Lent and Carnival, detail.] Examples of Carnival :
In the 19th century, in some regions, Carnival is personified by a poor boy from the village. He is dressed in straw and wanders in front of each house to beg for bread and food.
Elsewhere (in Brittany for example), he is a young boy covered in straw, who is carried in a procession that imitates that of a funeral. At the end of the procession, he is placed in a grave to represent his burial and the public pretends to mourn by shouting.
In Toulon, on Ash Wednesday, a man disguised as a woman, dressed all in black, passes for the widow of Carnival who is in despair, from house to house, because her children no longer have a father.
Also, the straw costume worn by a man who embodies Carnival is often set on fire, or he is thrown into a pond or a stream, after having been insulted and threatened.
"Goodbye poor man, goodbye poor man / Goodbye poor Carnival / You go away and I stay / Goodbye, poor carnival" (J.F Bladé, 1882) - ["Carnival, history and traditions", Van Gennep and M. C Delmas, arranged and translated by me. If you want precise ref, DM-me]
