While some of us are dressing and parading down the street in the spirit of Carnival, Christin Ho, our library colleague, shares some interesting thoughts on this theme of the year: Carnival in the MoMu-library!

Going through our turn-of-of-the-century magazines we noticed the juxtapositions of attitudes towards celebrating Carnival. The collective mix of curiosity and enthusiasm on the one hand, and boredom and skepticism on the other might not be so atypical as we may think during this time of the year in the past.

In March 1905 Bruxelles Féminin highlighted the various festivities that were held in Brussels for Carnival, especially “les batailles de confetti” were regarded as hotbeds for dissolute behavior. The magazine at times mentioned the importance of masquerades, at other times it questioned the long tradition of wearing disguises because things got pretty wild at these events. Although drunken brawls were quite normal and linked to this feast, Bruxelles Féminin complained about the irresponsible acts of drunken citizens that fanned the flames of discontent. To support this message, silly illustrations with – sometimes quite sarcastic – commentary were published.

Unlike Bruxelles Féminin, in January 1887 Revue de la Mode looked forward to the fancy-dress balls during Carnival celebrations. Fashion notes with advice on dressmaking and the best hairstyles were offered. The pleasure of appearing incognito did not mean that attendees could do whatever they pleased, great respect for the standard codes of dress and behavior remained important.