It’s February in Venice and the streets are positively packed. In St. Mark’s Square, masked figures adorned with jewels and feathers hover in picturesque corners. Elegant aristocrats out of the 18th century take over Caffe Florian. Little troublemakers empty bags of flour on one another. Drunken revelers zoom past in boats and gather outside bars and cafes. This is Venice’s Carnival, a time for all kinds of worldly pleasures.
威尼斯的二月，街上到处都是人。在圣马克广场，戴着珠宝和羽毛的蒙面人漫步在如画的街角。弗洛里安咖啡馆，也被称为“花神咖啡馆”，被18世纪的优雅贵族接管。小捣蛋鬼互相倾撒着面粉。醉醺醺的狂欢者乘船而过，然后聚集在酒吧和咖啡馆外。这就是威尼斯的狂欢节，一个各种世俗享乐的时刻。From feasts of indulgent food and drink, to masked disguises and the rowdiest parties of the year, this celebration lasts for several weeks in February and March, ending with Martedi Grasso, or Mardi Gras, which marks the beginning of Lent. The festival supposedly began in 1162, in celebration of Venice’s victory over Aquileia. However, mask-wearing in the Venetian lagoon could go back as far as the 9th century. It’s a time when the rigid social hierarchy is softened, processions and plays come into town and music, dancing and debaucherous activity takes over the streets.从丰盛的食物和饮料，到戴面具的化妆出行以及一年中最为喧哗的派对，这一庆祝活动会在2月和3月持续几个星期，然后至忏悔节结束，这标志着四旬斋的开始。威尼斯狂欢节据说始于1162年，是为了庆祝威尼斯战胜阿奎莱亚。然而，在威尼斯水道里戴面具可以追溯到9世纪。那是一个僵化的社会等级被淡化的时代，城市迎来了游行和戏剧表演，音乐、舞蹈和放荡的活动占据了街道。In a city with such a rigid social system, Carnival fever conferred many cherished freedoms. The most important was anonymity. For some weeks of the year, anyone could be who they wanted to be, whether it was a peasant mixing with aristocrats at their masked balls, a man dressing as a woman in the costume of a Gnaga, or Casanova, the son of lowly actors, pretending to be a state official to seduce a married noblewoman (a story he tells in full in his raunchy autobiography).
在一个社会制度如此僵化的城市里，狂欢节给人们带来了许多宝贵的自由。其中最重要的是不公开姓名。在一年中的这几个星期里，任何人都可以成为他们想成为的人，无论是农民在面具舞会上化身贵族，男人穿着猫女的服装装成女人，还是卡萨诺瓦，卑微演员的儿子，假装是政府官员引诱已婚贵妇（卡萨诺瓦在他淫秽的自传中完整地讲述了这个故事）。Masks were made with simple materials such as clay and paper mache and worn according to a few classic archetypes, such as the anonymous Bauta, the mysterious and silent Moretta, or the fascinating Gnaga, a kind of cross-dressing character with a basket of kittens under the arm. There are also archetypes from the Commedia dell’arte. Going to the theater was vital to Carnival life, and characters like Arlecchinathe clever servant or Pierrot the sad clown were crucial components of the cultural imagination.面具是由粘土和纸浆等简单材料制成，并根据一些经典原型佩戴，如匿名的波塔、神秘而沉默的莫雷塔，或迷人的猫女，一个手臂下挎着一篮子小猫的变装角色。也有来自即兴喜剧的原型。去剧院对于狂欢节的生活是至关重要的，像“一仆二主”中聪明的仆人或皮耶罗这个悲伤的小丑这样的人物是这场文化想象的重要组成部分。It was a transgressive time, and we can get a sense of just how transgressive through some of the regulations that were instated. A law in the 13th century forbade masked people from gambling, though, of course, the practice continued. Another 1339 prohibited visiting convents and monasteries while disguised. One can only imagine what kinds of raucous activities led to that ban. In 1511, female prostitutes petitioned to the Venetian government because male prostitutes dressed as Gnaghe were becoming too popular with their client base. That in itself is amazing, but the government responded even more amazingly, by permitting the ladies to lean out of their windows bare-chested as a form of publicity.这是一个打破规矩的时候，我们可以通过一些已经建立的规章制度来了解到底有多出格。13世纪的一项法律禁止蒙面人赌博，当然，这一规定仍在继续。另外1339年禁止乔装参观修道院。你就想象得乱成什么样才导致了这项禁令吧。1511年，妓女向威尼斯政府发起请愿，因为男妓打扮成猫女出现在她们的客户群中，并且大受欢迎。这本身就够令人称奇的了，但政府的回应更令人大跌眼镜，政府允许女士们从窗户探出赤裸的上身身来宣传自己。At its decadent height during the 18th century, Carnival would begin the first Sunday in October, taking over just about half the year. The Catholic Church eventually had to forbid Carnivalesque celebrations on holy days, meaning that there was a lot of celebration going on, even on holy days. The comedies, masquerades and gambling houses would draw all kinds of international visitors to the city.在18世纪颓废的年代，狂欢节会在10月的第一个星期天就开始，大约半年的时间都是过节。天主教会最终不得不禁止在圣日狂欢庆祝，也就是说即使在圣日也有很多庆祝活动在进行。喜剧演出、化装舞会和赌场将各种各样的国际游客吸引到了这座城市。Unfortunately, all this came to an end when the Serenissima Republic fell to Napoleon in 1797. It was an era in which many old ways of life were coming to an end and modernity arrived in Venice in its own way. The Carnival was banned and all the celebrations and rituals associated with it were shut down. Venice was independent no more.不幸的是，当威尼斯共和国于1797年落入拿破仑手中时，这一切都结束了。这个时代，许多旧的生活方式结束了，而威尼斯以自己的方式迎来了现代生活。狂欢节被禁止，所有与之相关的庆祝活动和仪式都被叫停。威尼斯不再是独立王朝了。The Carnival wouldn’t be brought back until 1979 after two centuries of war and tumult, when the government began to redevelop the modern Carnival by bringing back the traditional events. Carnival season now floods the streets with tourists and mask shops have popped up all over the city, revitalizing the craft. It’s a postmodern version of the pre-modern festival.在经历了两个世纪的战争和动乱之后，狂欢节直到1979年才得以恢复，政府开始通过恢复传统活动来重新发展现代狂欢节。现在狂欢节期间街道充斥着游客，面具商店随处可见，带动了这项工艺的发展。这可谓前现代节日的后现代版本。adorned 装饰，装扮
hover 悬停
aristocrat 贵族
revelers 狂欢者
indulgent 放纵的
disguise 伪装
lagoon 泻湖
hierarchy 等级制度
debaucherous 放荡的
conferred 授予
archetype 原型
tumult 骚动
十月份，Metro English的主题是The Festivals in the world you don't want to miss 那些你不能错过的节日。我们一起走遍世界，看看那些令人痴迷的、让人们向往的节日背后的文化，以及它们所承载的人类的期望。讲讲世界上每天都在发生的、值得庆祝的时刻，让我们不虚此生，过好每一个当下。
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