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Tradition dictates that deep-sea fishing’s sailors are at the origin of carnival in Granville. The departures for the banks of Newfoundland took place each year around Shrove Tuesday. The crossing lasted eight weeks, the fishing campaign in Newfoundland started at the beginning of May.
Carnival’s festival is therefore closely linked to sailors about to sail. Thus we could read in 1883 in the newspaper Le Granvillais: “Our sailors ready to sail towards the banks will want to benefit from this new opportunity to have a good time. Then they will bravely face the storms to which they are exposed because of their dangerous job…”
At that time, carnival’s legendary character and symbol is the Marquis. We say that the origins of Granville’s carnival go back to 1872. In 1873, for instance, we counted between 4,000 and 5,000 masks. The first procession goes back to 1875. We could see the War’s float, the Peace’s float, the Seamanship’s float, the Charity’s float and the Gallic Gaiety’s float.
At the beginning of the xxth century, the Granville’s tourist and seaside vocation became apparent. It is at that time that King Carnival was officially baptized. The districts made up of committees present their own floats, which are then put under competition. The floats reflect from now on the local, national even international current events: in 1937, we could guess on a float the characters of “three dictators”. At the end of the 30’s, carnival man was once again burnt on Shrove Tuesday evening. The custom of the group’s intrigues and parades is maintained. |
