Carnival

Etymology
See.

Proper noun

 * 1) The season just before the beginning of the Western Christian season of Lent.

Noun

 * 1) ; especially in the sense "any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent."
 * 2) * 1873 April, R. H. Horne, The Great Fairs and Markets of Europe, John Holmes Agnew, Walter Hilliard Bidwell (editors), The Eclectic Magazine, New Series Volume 17: January—June 1873, page 436
 * To the statement above we may, of course, add that a far greater number have never had the “luck” of seeing a Continental Fair;— the Carnivals of Italy, of France,—a Russian Fair,—or the Carnivals and Jahrmarkts of Germany.