Editing Carnival (section)

==Theories==
Interpretations of Carnival present it as a social institution that degrades or "uncrowns" the higher functions of thought, speech, and the soul by translating them into the [[grotesque body]], which serves to renew society and the world,<ref name=Bakhtin/> as a release for impulses that threaten the social order that ultimately reinforces social norms,<ref>[[Abner Cohen]], 1993. ''Masquerade politics''. Berkeley: [[University of California Press]].</ref> as a social transformation,<ref>Turner, Victor. 1982. ''From ritual to theater: The human seriousness of play''. New York: PAJ Publications.</ref> or as a tool for different groups to focus attention on conflicts and incongruities by embodying them in "senseless" acts.<ref>Abrahams, Roger. 1972. "Christmas and Carnival on Saint Vincent". ''Western Folklore'' 13 (4):275–289.</ref>

Furthermore, some cultures use Carnival as a method of empowering themselves in spite of social conflicts. For example, when the [[List of Caribbean carnivals around the world|Caribbean Carnival]] was established as a result of French settlers, even the slaves had their version of the [[Masquerade ball|masquerade]], where they would reverse roles to mock those of higher social status.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Marshall|first1=Emily Zobel|last2=Farrar|first2=Max|last3=Farrar|first3=Guy|date=2018-02-09|title=Popular political cultures and the Caribbean carnival: Carnival is a rich resource for cultural resistance as well as pleasure|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/685597|journal=Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture|language=en|volume=67|issue=67|pages=34–49|issn=1741-0797|access-date=30 April 2020|archive-date=28 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228025039/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/685597|url-status=live}}</ref> Along with empowering individuals for a period of time, despite their typical status, Carnival brings communities together. In a day where all are meant to perform a "mask" that differs from their typical identity, all members of a society are able to connect through their theatricality and satire.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Carnival: A reversal of the roles|url=https://frankgbosman.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/carnival-a-reversal-of-the-roles/|date=2018-02-12|website=Frank G. Bosman|language=nl|access-date=2020-04-30|archive-date=21 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921093109/https://frankgbosman.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/carnival-a-reversal-of-the-roles/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Mircea Eliade]], historian of religions, writes: "Any new year is a revival of time at its beginning, a repetition of the cosmogony. Ritual fights between two groups of extras, the presence of the dead, [[Saturnalia]] and orgies, are all elements which indicate that at the end of the year and in the expectation of the new year the mythical moments of the passage of chaos to the cosmogony are repeated".<ref>[[Mircea Eliade]], ''The myth of the eternal return''.</ref> Eliade also writes: "Then the dead will come back, because all barriers between the dead and the living are broken (is the primordial chaos not revived?), and will come back since – at this paradoxical moment – time will be interrupted, so that the dead may be again contemporaries of the living." Eliade speculates that people have "a deep need to regenerate themselves periodically by abolishing the elapsed time and making topical the cosmogony". As regards masks (monsters, animals, demons), he assigns them an [[apotropaic]] meaning.