23 § On the Significance of Carnivals

IN connection with a certain 'theory of festivals' formulated by a sociologist, we have pointed out^[1] that this theory has, among other deficiencies, the weakness of wanting to reduce all festivals to a single type, that of what may be called 'carnival' festivals, an expression which seems to us clear enough to be understood by everyone, as in fact carnival represents what is still left of festival today in the West; and we said at that time that this kind of festival raises questions which can call for a more thorough examina- tion. In fact, the impression that emerges from them is always and above all else that of _disorder_, in the most complete sense of this word. How then does it happen that they are to be found, not only in our time, but also and even with a more ample development, in traditional civilisations with which they seem at first sight incompatible? If they pertained specifically to our own times, they could be considered simply as one of the numerous manifestations of the general disequilibrium.

We may as well give here some definite examples, and we will mention first certain truly strange festivals which were celebrated in the Middle Ages: the 'feast of the ass' where this animal, whose distinctly satanic symbolism is well known in all traditions, ^[2] was even brought into the very choir of the church where it occupied the place of honour and received the most extraordinary tokens of veneration; also, the 'feast of fools', wherein the lower clergy gave themselves up to the worst improprieties, parodying both the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the liturgy itself.^[3] How is it possible to explain that in such a period things whose most evident characteristic is incontestably that of parody and even of sacrilege^[4] were not only tolerated but even given an as it were official sanction?

We will also mention the Roman Saturnalia from which, moreover, the modern carnival seems to have been directly derived, though in fact it is no longer anything but a very diminished vestige: during these festivals, the slaves ordered the masters about, and the masters served the slaves.^[5] One then had the image of a truly 'upside down' world, wherein everything was done in reverse of the normal order.^[6] Although it is commonly claimed that these festivals were a reminder of the 'golden age', this interpretation is clearly false; for there is no question here of any kind of 'equality' that could strictly be regarded as representing, insofar as is possible in present conditions, the primordial indifferentiation of social functions. It is a question of the reversal of hierarchies, which is something completely different; and such a reversal constitutes, generally speaking, one of the plainest characteristics of satanism. We must therefore see here something that relates much rather to the sinister aspect of Saturn, an aspect which certainly does not pertain to him as god of the 'golden age' but, on the contrary, insofar as he is now no more than the fallen god of a bygone and finished period.^[8]

It can be seen by these examples that there is invariably a sinister and even satanic element in such festivals; and it should be noted in particular that this very element is precisely what pleases the mob and excites its gaiety. There is something here, in fact, that is very apt-and even more so than anything else-to satisfy the tendencies of fallen man, insofar as these tendencies push him to develop the lowest possibilities of his nature. Now it is just in this that the real point of such festivals lies: it is a question of somehow 'channeling' these tendencies, and of thus making them as inoffensive as possible by giving them an opportunity to manifest themselves, but only during very brief periods and in very well defined circumstances, and by thus enclosing this manifestation within narrow limits which it is not allowed to overstep. Otherwise these same tendencies, for want of the minimum satisfaction required by the present^[9] condition of humanity, would be at risk of exploding, so to speak, ^[10] and of spreading their effects everywhere, collectively as well as individually, causing thereby a disorder far more serious than that which is produced only during some few days specially reserved for this purpose, and which is all the less to be feared for being thus 'regularised'. For on the one hand these days are placed outside the normal course of things, so as not to exert any appreciable influence upon it, while, on the other hand, the fact that there is nothing unforeseen in these festivals 'normalises' as it were the disorder itself and integrates it into the total order.

Apart from this general explanation, which no one who is prepared to think about it can fail to understand, it will be as well to say something in particular about the 'masquerades' which play an important part in carnivals them- selves, and in other more or less similar festivals; and what we have to say will confirm still further what we have just said. In fact, carnival masks are generally hideous and most often evoke animal or demonic forms so that they are like a figurative 'materialisation' of the inferior and even infernal tend- encies, which are allowed to come to the surface on these occasions. Besides, each one will quite naturally choose from among these masks, without being fully aware of it, the one that best suits him, that is, the one which represents what is most in conformity with his own lower tendencies-so much so that one could say that the mask which is supposed to hide the true face of the individ- ual, on the contrary reveals to the eyes of everyone that which he really carries within himself but which he is habitually obliged to dissimulate. It is well to note, for this throws further light on the masks, that we have here a kind of parody of the 'reversal' which, as we have explained elsewhere, ^[11] takes place at a certain degree of initiatic development; a parody, we say, and a truly satanic counterfeit, for here the reversal is an exteriorization, not of the beings spirituality but, on the contrary, of its lowest possibilities. ^[12]