Yana Fenech: Cultural context.

Japanese Carnival.

The Asakusa Samba Carnival is held every year, on the last Saturday of August in Asakusa Tokyo. This carnival attracts about 500 000 visitors every year, who fall in love with the rhythm of the samba.

This festival was first held by Asakusa people in 1981. In this carnival there are over 30 groups of dancers. Every group bring a different concept and a unique dance, music and costumes. As you can see this Japanese Carnival was inspired from The Rio Carnival in Brazil. In fact dancers from the Rio carnival sometimes are invite to take part in it.

Dragon Dance.

Dragon dance is a traditional dance and performance in the Chinese culture. It is m mostly seen in festive celebrations. This performance is always performed by a team of dancers who control a long flexible figure of a dragon using poles.

The dragon dance is normally performed during the Chinese New year.

Chinese dragons are a symbol of china and are known to bring good luck. The longer the dragon the more luck it brings to the community. The earliest representation of the dragon goes way back as far as 1600BC.

This is a saying:

So They Say

"The dragon's horns resemble those of a stag, his head that of a camel, his eyes those of a demon, his neck that of a snake, his belly that of a clam, his scales those of a carp, his claws those of an eagle, his soles those of a tiger, his ears those of a cow."

--Chinese scholar Wang Fu (Han dynasty, 206 BC to AD 220)

The Carnival of Venice

The carnival is held in Venice every year. At this carnival you’ll find circus clowns monsters and people wearing outstanding masks and costumes.

Carnival masks have always been a main feature of the Venice carnival. Normally people were allowed to wear them between the feat of St Stephens’s day and the start of the carnival season

The masks can be made out of leather, porcelain or with a glass technique. The original masks were simpler and sometime had a symbol and practical function. Nowadays they are made with fold leaf and gypsum and are all hand panted using feathers and different gems to be decorated.