Repères méditerranéens

 

The Nice Carnival first appears in local documents in 1294, when the Count of Provence Charles II, Duke of Anjou came to Nice "to spend a few happy days there celebrating the carnival". The tradition was maintained over the centuries, but the rise of tourism, which crowned Nice as the winter capital of Europe, led inevitably to a more modern Carnival. In 1873 the newly formed festival committee agreed to a parade of floats. At first these were based on history and allegory, dramatising a legendary heroine Catherine Séguranne, but the growing public wanted more amusement and from 1875 pushed the Carnival towards burlesque. So then the Carnival's speciality became huge heads, more than six foot high, and floats made of papier mâché. Inspired by mythic carnival scenes as well as by popular Nicoise imagery, the float-makers created anthropomorphic characters in somewhat strange scenes taken either from nature or from some fantastical, diabolical world. The famous 1875 float of the Ratapignata (bat) perfectly illustrates all these ideas: the Ratapignata represents an eagle, the town's heraldic symbol, but upside down, like a bat. It is part of the Carnival bestiary, an animal going between the worlds of shadow and light. The float made a huge impact, in 1900 Menica Rondelly, composer of the town's anthem Nissa la Bella, created a newspaper called Ratapignata and wrote it entirely in the Nicois dialect – and thus the bat became one of the most important figures in Nice's cultural identity.

A centre-piece of the Nice Carnival: His Majesty Carnival first made his appearance in 1882, accompanied by musicians with imaginary instruments.He was brought to the avenue now called Jean Médecin to take pride of place on the Place Massena before being burned on the Quai des Etas Unis. This particular float always reflects social and political events, both on a local and national level. Thus in 1946 His Majesty Carnival emerged from his exile during the war as an ambassador, since now Nice was the capital of the Riviera. The following year he was King of the Cinema, representing the unexpected period of prosperity which Nice's Studios de la Victorine had experienced during the war, when Marcel Carné made Les Enfants du Paradis there. Between 1946 and 1955 famous actors and singers like Maurice Chevalier and Mayol were represented as Monsieur Carnival. Today the Nice Carnival is organised by professionals and recognised as one of the most famous urban carnivals in the world, alongside Rio, New Orleans and Quebec.

 

Bibliography :

Annie Sidro, Carnaval de Nice : Tradition et modernité, collection patrimoine-direction de la culture, Nice, 2001.

Le Carnaval de Nice et ses fous, Nice, Serre Éditeur, rééd. 2008.