Whitstable Carnival 2024

The First Whitstable Carnival took place in 1897, but Carnival itself is much older than that. The word is from the Latin “carne levare” meaning “leaving meat”. Traditionally in the Middle Ages it took place around shrovetide, when the winter stores were used up in one final blow-out feast before the rigours of Lent. Later Carnivals adopted the format but altered the time. Our Whitstable Carnival is a more modest affair, although, looking at old photos – such as those in the Douglas West collection, currently held in the museum – you can see that people did whatever they could to make it as fun and as exciting as possible. So far it has survived two world wars and a pandemic.