I love this painting by Breugel, depicting "The Battle Between Carnival and Lent". Carnival is shown as a fat man riding a wine barrel, with a spit of meat instead of a lance, while Lent is a thin old woman with a board of fish. In the background the distinction between the feasting, festive period of Carnival (on the left) and the fasting, austere period of Lent (on the right) can be clearly seen.
In early modern Europe, Carnival was in opposition to Lent, but was also the opposite of everyday life - 'the world turned upside down'. It was a time of feasting and revelry, with an emphasis on food, sex and violence, stretching from midwinter to its climax on Shrove Tuesday, before the abstinence of Lent began on Ash Wednesday.
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