Carnival...

It would be very wrong of me not to write a post about carnival, considering it is SO massive here in Brazil - but do you know the real reason why they do it?!

I myself have been told about it, and I have also done some research on the internet...

The word Carnaval (spelt in Portuguese) comes from the latin words 'Carne Vale' which means 'Farewell to the flesh'. Carnaval lasts from the Saturday to the Tuesday - and it consist of drinking, partying, dancing, sex, food and more. It is basically doing a week of 'sinning' of living in indulgence of the flesh and your desires. The idea then is on Ash Wednesday the people would repent of all the things they had done - to be clean for the 40 days of Lent; which is meant to be a time of personal reflection, fasting and abstinence.

But the question that came to my head....how many repent on the Wednesday and really do try and live a clean holy life during the 40 days?! Should we only be living clean live for 40 days!?

I don't agree with carnival - just because God has freely given us the gift of forgiveness and grace, we should not abuse that. It does not give us a right to go around sinning, because we are going to be forgiven....we should try at all costs to not sin and live a holy life (and it doesn't mean you have to live a boring life to be holy!!). Carnival is an interesting concept...

I went to visit Ouro Preto, which is the closest place to where we live that celebrate carnival. The majority of the missionaries here have gone to evangelise as well as be in the parade in a Samba band (it sounded amazing!). It was exciting to hear people at Carnival are open to talk about God, and talk about their lives and wanting to change. As I was there during the day, I didn't see any of the carnival parades, just lots of people drinking and all the decorations that are up. One thing that stood out to me most was that they had large models of things .... here is one of a clown to help you understand what I am talking about:

But they also had these models things of the Devil too...people where going around with devil horns and things, with the notion that the Devil is fun and allows us to do all these things. People certainly have a screwed understanding on God here in Brazil (and also around the world!) Life with God is amazing and not restricted or boring (But that topic is a whole other post!!).  In a way people may consider it worshipping the devil?!

So .... this is just a tiny glimpse into the world of Carnival and a little background information. I just pray that people through this time will actually repent for their actions and their thoughts, and find Jesus in a real way and start to understand the truth....