Carnival: A Lesson in History.

Today, the history geek in me shone through.

As I was daydreaming away about the weekend, I found myself wondering why Notting Hill Carnival actually exists...I mean if you think about it, it's a really random event. Why do thousands upon thousands of Brits annually take part and revel in what is essentially a celebration of all things Caribbean? 

So I took to Wikipedia, the mother of all knowledge, and here are a few things I learnt; 

• Notting Hill Carnival stems from an attempt to strengthen race relations in Britain and to promote cultural unity, as the Slave Trade/British Empire fucked that shit up. And the British were racist bumholes. 

• The London Hippies were key figures in organising the first ever Notting Hill Carnival back in 1966. Should've guessed! 

• The word 'Carnival' actually originates with the very first Italian Catholics who had their own festivities before Lent. In Latin, 'carnevale' means 'to put away the meat', so basically, they got as merry as Mary Poppins and as binged up as I do after a drunken night out, before  "sausage" and "beeeercan" became strictly off limits for 40 days and nights (terrible pun, I'm sorry).  

        Anyways...

 this little lesson has resulted in a very happy Nish for two reasons:

1) I am definitely all for celebrating the uniting of races! After all, I am a product of two past enemy races/cultures. Woop! 

2) Being a Catholic and all, it's only right that I follow through with the tradition of 'Carnival' and drink till I'm sick, eat till my heart's content, and most importantly, make sure I get enough sausage to last me the next 40 days! 

Only joking....or am I? 

Laterz for now. Style post tomorrow. xoxo