["[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-01 00:00]\n<User>Let me tell you about some new developments:\nMurdoch has responded to some of the arguments against the newspaper by saying that critics are \"snobs\" who want to \"impose their tastes on everyone else\", while MacKenzie claims the same critics are people who, if they ever had a \"popular idea\", would have to \"go and lie down in a dark room for half an hour\". Both have pointed to the huge commercial success of the Sun in this period and its establishment as Britain's top-selling newspaper, claiming that they are \"giving the public what they want\". This conclusion is disputed by critics. John Pilger has said that a late-1970s edition of the Daily Mirror, which replaced the usual celebrity and domestic political news items with an entire issue devoted to his own front-line reporting of the genocide in Pol Pot's Cambodia, not only outsold The Sun on the day it was issued but became the only edition of the Daily Mirror to ever sell every single copy issued throughout the country, something never achieved by The Sun.\n\nAccording to Max Clifford: Read All About It, written by Clifford and Angela Levin, La Salle invented the story out of frustration with Starr who had been working on a book with McCaffrey. She contacted an acquaintance who worked for The Sun in Manchester. The story reportedly delighted MacKenzie, who was keen to run it, and Max Clifford, who had been Starr's public relations agent. Starr had to be persuaded that the apparent revelation would not damage him; the attention helped to revive his career. In his 2001 autobiography Unwrapped, Starr wrote that the incident was a complete fabrication: \"I have never eaten or even nibbled a live hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, mouse, shrew, vole or any other small mammal.\"\n\nEventually resulting in 17 libel writs in total, The Sun ran a series of false stories about the pop musician Elton John from 25 February 1987. They began with an invented account of the singer having sexual relationships with rent boys. The singer-songwriter was abroad on the day indicated in the story, as former Sun journalist John Blake, recently poached by the Daily Mirror, soon discovered. After further stories, in September 1987, The Sun accused John of having his Rottweiler guard dogs voice boxes surgically removed. In November, the Daily Mirror found their rival's only source for the rent boy story and he admitted it was a totally fictitious concoction created for money. The inaccurate story about his dogs, actually Alsatians, put pressure on The Sun, and John received \u00a31 million in an out of court settlement, then the largest damages payment in British history. The Sun ran a front-page apology on 12 December 1988, under the banner headline \"SORRY, ELTON\". In May 1987 gay men were offered free one-way airline tickets to Norway to leave Britain for good: \"Fly Away Gays - And We Will Pay\" was the paper's headline. Gay Church of England clergymen were described in one headline in November 1987 as \"Pulpit poofs\".\n\nTelevision personality Piers Morgan, a former editor of the Daily Mirror and of The Sun's Bizarre pop column, has said that during the late 1980s, at Kelvin MacKenzie's behest, he was ordered to speculate on the sexuality of male pop stars for a feature headlined \"The Poofs of Pop\". He also recalls MacKenzie headlining a January 1989 story about the first same-sex kiss on the BBC television soap opera EastEnders \"EastBenders\", describing the kiss between Colin Russell and Guido Smith as \"a homosexual love scene between yuppie poofs ... when millions of children were watching\".\n\nOn 17 November 1989, The Sun headlined a page 2 news story titled \"STRAIGHT SEX CANNOT GIVE YOU AIDS \u2013 OFFICIAL.\" The Sun favourably cited the opinions of Lord Kilbracken, a member of the All Parliamentary Group on AIDS. Lord Kilbracken said that only one person out of the 2,372 individuals with HIV/AIDS mentioned in a specific Department of Health report was not a member of a \"high risk group\", such as homosexuals and recreational drug users. The Sun also ran an editorial further arguing that \"At last the truth can be told... the risk of catching AIDS if you are heterosexual is \"statistically invisible\". In other words, impossible. So now we know \u2013 everything else is homosexual propaganda.\" Although many other British press services covered Lord Kilbracken's public comments, none of them made the argument that the Sun did in its editorial and none of them presented Lord Kilbracken's ideas without context or criticism.\n\nCritics stated that both The Sun and Lord Kilbracken cherry-picked the results from one specific study while ignoring other data reports on HIV infection and not just AIDS infection, which the critics viewed as unethical politicisation of a medical issue. Lord Kilbracken himself criticised The Sun's editorial and the headline of its news story; he stated that while he thought that gay people were more at risk of developing AIDS it was still wrong to imply that no one else could catch the disease. The Press Council condemned The Sun for committing what it called a \"gross distortion\". The Sun later ran an apology, which they ran on Page 28. Journalist David Randall argued in the textbook The Universal Journalist that The Sun's story was one of the worst cases of journalistic malpractice in recent history, putting its own readers in harm's way.\n\nUnder a front page headline \"The Truth\", the paper printed allegations provided to them that some fans picked the pockets of crushed victims, that others urinated on members of the emergency services as they tried to help and that some even assaulted a police constable \"whilst he was administering the kiss of life to a patient.\" Despite the headline, written by Kelvin MacKenzie, the story was based on allegations either by unnamed and unattributable sources, or hearsay accounts of what named individuals had said \u2013 a fact made clear to MacKenzie by Harry Arnold, the reporter who wrote the story.\n\nThe front page caused outrage in Liverpool, where the paper lost more than three-quarters of its estimated 55,000 daily sales and still sells poorly in the city more than 25 years later (around 12,000). It is unavailable in many parts of the city, as many newsagents refuse to stock it. It was revealed in a documentary called Alexei Sayle's Liverpool, aired in September 2008, that many Liverpudlians will not even take the newspaper for free, and those who do may simply burn or tear it up. Liverpudlians refer to the paper as 'The Scum' with campaigners believing it handicapped their fight for justice.\n\nOn 7 July 2004, in response to verbal attacks in Liverpool on Wayne Rooney, just before his transfer from Everton to Manchester United, who had sold his life story to The Sun, the paper devoted a full-page editorial to an apology for the \"awful error\" of its Hillsborough coverage and argued that Rooney (who was still only three years old at the time of Hillsborough) should not be punished for its \"past sins\". In January 2005, The Sun's managing editor Graham Dudman admitting the Hillsborough coverage was \"the worst mistake in our history\", added: \"What we did was a terrible mistake. It was a terrible, insensitive, horrible article, with a dreadful headline; but what we'd also say is: we have apologised for it, and the entire senior team here now is completely different from the team that put the paper out in 1989.\"\n\nThe Sun remained loyal to Thatcher right up to her resignation in November 1990, despite the party's fall in popularity over the previous year following the introduction of the Poll tax (officially known as the Community Charge). This change to the way local government is funded was vociferously supported by the newspaper, despite widespread opposition, (some from Conservative MPs), which is seen as having contributed to Thatcher's own downfall. The tax was quickly repealed by her successor John Major, whom The Sun initially supported enthusiastically, believing he was a radical Thatcherite \u2013 despite the economy having entered recession at this time.\n\nDespite its initial opposition to the closures, until 1997, the newspaper repeatedly called for the implementation of further Thatcherite policies, such as Royal Mail privatisation,[verification needed] and social security cutbacks, with leaders such as \"Peter Lilley is right, we can't carry on like this\",[verification needed] The paper showed hostility to the EU and approval of public spending cuts, tax cuts, and promotion of right-wing ministers to the cabinet, with leaders such as \"More of the Redwood, not Deadwood\".\n\nThe Sun switched support to the Labour party on 18 March 1997, six weeks before the General Election victory which saw the New Labour leader Tony Blair become Prime Minister with a large parliamentary majority, despite the paper having attacked Blair and New Labour up to a month earlier. Its front page headline read THE SUN BACKS BLAIR and its front page editorial made clear that while it still opposed some New Labour policies, such as the Minimum Wage and Devolution, it believed Blair to be \"the breath of fresh air this great country needs\". John Major's Conservatives, it said, were \"tired, divided and rudderless\". Blair, who had radically altered his party's image and policies, noting the influence the paper could have over its readers' political thinking, had courted it (and Murdoch) for some time by granting exclusive interviews and writing columns.\n<Assistant>I've captured all of this valuable information.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-02 00:00]\n<User>Here are some new facts I learnt just now:\nIn exchange for Rupert Murdoch's support, Blair agreed not to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism \u2013 which John Major had withdrawn the country from in September 1992 after barely two years. Cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson was \"outed\" by Matthew Parris (a former Sun columnist) on BBC TV's Newsnight in November 1998. Misjudging public response, The Sun's editor David Yelland demanded to know in a front page editorial whether Britain was governed by a \"gay mafia\" of a \"closed world of men with a mutual self-interest\". Three days later the paper apologised in another editorial which said The Sun would never again reveal a person's sexuality unless it could be defended on the grounds of \"overwhelming public interest\".\n\nIn 2003 the paper was accused of racism by the Government over its criticisms of what it perceived as the \"open door\" policy on immigration. The attacks came from the Prime Minister's press spokesman Alastair Campbell and the Home Secretary David Blunkett (later a Sun columnist). The paper rebutted the claim, believing that it was not racist to suggest that a \"tide\" of unchecked illegal immigrants was increasing the risk of terrorist attacks and infectious diseases. It did not help its argument by publishing a front page story on 4 July 2003, under the headline \"Swan Bake\", which claimed that asylum seekers were slaughtering and eating swans. It later proved to have no basis in fact. Subsequently The Sun published a follow-up headlined \"Now they're after our fish!\". Following a Press Complaints Commission adjudication a \"clarification\" was eventually printed, on page 41. In 2005 The Sun published photographs of Prince Harry sporting a Nazi costume to a fancy dress party. The photographs caused outrage across the world and Clarence House was forced to issue a statement in response apologising for any offence or embarrassment caused.\n\nDespite being a persistent critic of some of the government's policies, the paper supported Labour in both subsequent elections the party won. For the 2005 general election, The Sun backed Blair and Labour for a third consecutive election win and vowed to give him \"one last chance\" to fulfil his promises, despite berating him for several weaknesses including a failure to control immigration. However, it did speak of its hope that the Conservatives (led by Michael Howard) would one day be fit for a return to government. This election (Blair had declared it would be his last as prime minister) resulted in Labour's third successive win but with a much reduced majority.\n\nOn 22 September 2003 the newspaper appeared to misjudge the public mood surrounding mental health, as well as its affection for former world heavyweight champion boxer Frank Bruno, who had been admitted to hospital, when the headline \"Bonkers Bruno Locked Up\" appeared on the front page of early editions. The adverse reaction, once the paper had hit the streets on the evening of 21 September, led to the headline being changed for the paper's second edition to the more sympathetic \"Sad Bruno In Mental Home\".\n\nThe Sun has been openly antagonistic towards other European nations, particularly the French and Germans. During the 1980s and 1990s, the nationalities were routinely described in copy and headlines as \"frogs\", \"krauts\" or \"hun\". As the paper is opposed to the EU it has referred to foreign leaders who it deemed hostile to the UK in unflattering terms. Former President Jacques Chirac of France, for instance, was branded \"le Worm\". An unflattering picture of German chancellor Angela Merkel, taken from the rear, bore the headline \"I'm Big in the Bumdestag\" (17 April 2006).\n\nOn 7 January 2009, The Sun ran an exclusive front page story claiming that participants in a discussion on Ummah.com, a British Muslim internet forum, had made a \"hate hit list\" of British Jews to be targeted by extremists over the Gaza War. It was claimed that \"Those listed [on the forum] should treat it very seriously. Expect a hate campaign and intimidation by 20 or 30 thugs.\" The UK magazine Private Eye claimed that Glen Jenvey, a man quoted by The Sun as a terrorism expert, who had been posting to the forum under the pseudonym \"Abuislam\", was the only forum member promoting a hate campaign while other members promoted peaceful advocacy, such as writing 'polite letters'. The story has since been removed from The Sun's website following complaints to the UK's Press Complaints Commission.\n\nOn 9 December 2010, The Sun published a front-page story claiming that terrorist group Al-Qaeda had threatened a terrorist attack on Granada Television in Manchester to disrupt the episode of the soap opera Coronation Street to be transmitted live that evening. The paper cited unnamed sources, claiming \"cops are throwing a ring of steel around tonight's live episode of Coronation Street over fears it has been targeted by Al-Qaeda.\" Later that morning, however, Greater Manchester Police categorically denied having \"been made aware of any threat from Al-Qaeda or any other proscribed organisation.\" The Sun published a small correction on 28 December, admitting \"that while cast and crew were subject to full body searches, there was no specific threat from Al-Qaeda as we reported.\" The apology had been negotiated by the Press Complaints Commission. For the day following the 2011 Norway attacks The Sun produced an early edition blaming the massacre on al-Qaeda. Later the perpetrator was revealed to be Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian nationalist.\n\nIn January 2008 the Wapping presses printed The Sun for the last time and London printing was transferred to Waltham Cross in the Borough of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, where News International had built what is claimed to be the largest printing centre in Europe with 12 presses. The site also produces The Times and Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, Wall Street Journal Europe (also now a Murdoch newspaper), London's Evening Standard and local papers. Northern printing had earlier been switched to a new plant at Knowsley on Merseyside and the Scottish Sun to another new plant at Motherwell near Glasgow. The three print centres represent a \u00a3600 million investment by NI and allowed all the titles to be produced with every page in full colour from 2008. The Waltham Cross plant is capable of producing one million copies an hour of a 120-page tabloid newspaper.\n\nPolitically, the paper's stance was less clear under Prime Minister Gordon Brown who succeeded Blair in June 2007. Its editorials were critical of many of Brown's policies and often more supportive of those of Conservative leader David Cameron. Rupert Murdoch, head of The Sun's parent company News Corporation, speaking at a 2007 meeting with the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, which was investigating media ownership and the news, said that he acts as a \"traditional proprietor\". This means he exercises editorial control on major issues such as which political party to back in a general election or which policy to adopt on Europe.\n<Assistant>Thanks for the update. I've recorded these facts.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-03 00:00]\n<User>There are some important details I learned:\nDuring the campaign for the United Kingdom general election, 2010, The Independent ran ads declaring that \"Rupert Murdoch won't decide this election \u2013 you will.\" In response James Murdoch and Rebekah Wade \"appeared unannounced and uninvited on the editorial floor\" of the Independent, and had an energetic conversation with its editor Simon Kelner. Several days later the Independent reported The Sun's failure to report its own YouGov poll result which said that \"if people thought Mr Clegg's party had a significant chance of winning the election\" the Liberal Democrats would win 49% of the vote, and with it a landslide majority.\n\nOn election day (6 May 2010), The Sun urged its readers to vote for David Cameron's \"modern and positive\" Conservatives in order to save Britain from \"disaster\" which the paper thought the country would face if the Labour government was re-elected. The election ended in the first hung parliament after an election for 36 years, with the Tories gaining the most seats and votes but being 20 seats short of an overall majority. They finally came to power on 11 May when Gordon Brown stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for David Cameron to become prime minister by forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.\n\nOn 28 January 2012, police arrested four current and former staff members of The Sun, as part of a probe in which journalists paid police officers for information; a police officer was also arrested in the probe. The Sun staffers arrested were crime editor Mike Sullivan, head of news Chris Pharo, former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, and former managing editor Graham Dudman, who since became a columnist and media writer. All five arrested were held on suspicion of corruption. Police also searched the offices of News International, the publishers of The Sun, as part of a continuing investigation into the News of the World scandal.\n<Assistant>Thanks for the information. I've saved it.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-04 00:00]\n<User>The following are some new knowledge:\nThe main party leaders, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, were all depicted holding a copy of the special issue in publicity material. Miliband's decision to pose with a copy of The Sun received a strong response. Organisations representing the relatives of Hillsborough victims described Miliband's action as an \"absolute disgrace\" and he faced criticism too from Liverpool Labour MPs and the city's Labour Mayor, Joe Anderson. A statement was issued on 13 June explaining that Miliband \"was promoting England's bid to win the World Cup\", although \"he understands the anger that is felt towards the Sun over Hillsborough by many people in Merseyside and he is sorry to those who feel offended.\"\n\nOn 2 June 2013, The Sun on Sunday ran a front page story on singer-songwriter Tulisa Contostavlos. The front page read: \"Tulisa's cocaine deal shame\"; this story was written by The Sun On Sunday's undercover reporter Mahzer Mahmood, who had previously worked for the News of the World. It was claimed that Tulisa introduced three film producers (actually Mahmood and two other Sun journalists) to a drug dealer and set up a \u00a3800 deal. The subterfuge involved conning the singer into believing that she was being considered for a role in an \u00a38 million Bollywood film.\n\nAt her subsequent trial, the case against Tulisa collapsed at Southwark Crown Court in July 2014, with the judge commenting that there were \"strong grounds\" to believe that Mahmood had lied at a pre-trial hearing and tried to manipulate evidence against the co-defendant Tulisa. Tulisa was cleared of supplying Class A drugs. After these events, The Sun released a statement saying that the newspaper \"takes the Judge's remarks very seriously. Mahmood has been suspended pending an immediate internal investigation.\"\n\nIn October 2014, the trial of six senior staff and journalists at The Sun newspaper began. All six were charged with conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office. They included The Sun's head of news Chris Pharo, who faced six charges, while ex-managing editor Graham Dudman and ex-Sun deputy news editor Ben O'Driscoll were accused of four charges each. Thames Valley district reporter Jamie Pyatt and picture editor John Edwards were charged with three counts each, while ex-reporter John Troup was accused of two counts. The trial related to illegal payments allegedly made to public officials, with prosecutors saying the men conspired to pay officials from 2002\u201311, including police, prison officers and soldiers. They were accused of buying confidential information about the Royal Family, public figures and prison inmates. They all denied the charges. On 16 January 2015, Troup and Edwards were cleared by the jury of all charges against them. The jury also partially cleared O'Driscoll and Dudman but continued deliberating over other counts faced by them, as well as the charges against Pharo and Pyatt. On 21 January 2015, the jury told the court that it was unable to reach unanimous verdicts on any of the outstanding charges and was told by the judge, Richard Marks, that he would accept majority verdicts. Shortly afterwards, one of the jurors sent a note to the judge and was discharged. The judge told the remaining 11 jurors that their colleague had been \"feeling unwell and feeling under a great deal of pressure and stress from the situation you are in\", and that under the circumstances he was prepared to accept majority verdicts of \"11 to zero or 10 to 1\". On 22 January 2015, the jury was discharged after failing to reach verdicts on the outstanding charges. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that it would seek a retrial.\n\nOn 6 February 2015, it was announced that Judge Richard Marks is to be replaced by Judge Charles Wide at the retrial. Two days earlier, Marks had emailed counsel for the defendants telling them: \"It has been decided (not by me but by my elders and betters) that I am not going to be doing the retrial\". Reporting the decision in UK newspaper The Guardian, Lisa O\u2019Carroll wrote: \"Wide is the only judge so far to have presided in a case which has seen a conviction of a journalist in relation to allegations of unlawful payments to public officials for stories. The journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is appealing the verdict\". Defence counsel for the four journalists threatened to take the decision to judicial review, with the barrister representing Pharo, Nigel Rumfitt QC, saying: \"The way this has come about gives rise to the impression that something has been going on behind the scenes which should not have been going on behind the scenes and which should have been dealt with transparently\". He added that the defendants were \"extremely concerned\" and \"entitled\" to know why Marks was being replaced by Wide.\n\nOn 22 May 2015, Sun reporter Anthony France was found guilty of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office between 2008 and 2011. France\u2019s trial followed the London Metropolitan Police's Operation Elveden, an ongoing investigation into alleged payments to police and officials in exchange for information. He had paid a total of more than \u00a322,000 to PC Timothy Edwards, an anti-terrorism police officer based at Heathrow Airport. The police officer had already pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and given a two-year gaol sentence in 2014, but the jury in France\u2019s trial was not informed of this. Following the passing of the guilty verdict, the officer leading Operation Elveden, Detective Chief Superintendent Gordon Briggs said France and Edwards had been in a \"long-term, corrupt relationship\".\n\nThe BBC reported that France was the first journalist to face trial and be convicted under Operation Elveden since the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had revised its guidance in April 2015 so that prosecutions would only be brought against journalists who had made payments to police officers over a period of time. As a result of the change in the CPS\u2019 policy, charges against several journalists who had made payments to other types of public officials \u2013 including civil servants, health workers and prison staff - had been dropped. In July 2015, Private Eye magazine reported that at a costs hearing at the Old Bailey The Sun's parent company had refused to pay for the prosecution costs relating to France\u2019s trial, leading the presiding judge to express his \"considerable disappointment\" at this state of affairs. Judge Timothy Pontius said in court that France\u2019s illegal actions had been part of a \"clearly recognised procedure at The Sun\", adding that, \"There can be no doubt that News International bears some measure of moral responsibility if not legal culpability for the acts of the defendant\". The Private Eye report noted that despite this The Sun's parent organisation was \"considering disciplinary actions\" against France whilst at the same time it was also preparing to bring a case to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal against the London Metropolitan Police Service for its actions relating to him and two other journalists.\n<Assistant>Appreciated. I'll retain these important details.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-05 00:00]\n<User>Here's some valuable information I collected:\nIn August 2013, The Irish Sun ended the practice of featuring topless models on Page 3. The main newspaper was reported to have followed in 2015 with the edition of 16 January supposedly the last to carry such photographs after a report in The Times made such an assertion. After substantial coverage in the media about an alleged change in editorial policy, Page 3 returned to its usual format on 22 January 2015. A few hours before the issue was published, the Head of PR at the newspaper said the reputed end of Page 3 had been \"speculation\" only.\n\nOn 17 April 2015, The Sun's columnist Katie Hopkins called migrants to Britain \"cockroaches\" and \"feral humans\" and said they were \"spreading like the norovirus\". Her remarks were condemned by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. In a statement released on 24 April 2015, High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stated that Hopkins' used \"language very similar to that employed by Rwanda's Kangura newspaper and Radio Mille Collines during the run up to the 1994 genocide\", and noted that both media organizations were subsequently convicted by an international tribunal of public incitement to commit genocide.\n\nHopkins' column also drew criticism on Twitter, including from Russell Brand, to whom Hopkins responded by accusing Brand's \"champagne socialist humanity\" of neglecting taxpayers. Simon Usborne, writing in The Independent, compared her use of the word \"cockroach\" to previous uses by the Nazis and just before the Rwandan Genocide by its perpetrators. He suspected that if any other contributor had written the piece it would not have been published and questioned her continued employment by the newspaper. Zoe Williams commented in The Guardian: \"It is no joke when people start talking like this. We are not 'giving her what she wants' when we make manifest our disgust. It is not a free speech issue. I\u2019m not saying gag her: I\u2019m saying fight her\".\n\nOn 9 March 2016, The Sun's front page proclaimed that Queen Elizabeth II was backing \"Brexit\", a common term for a British withdrawal from the European Union. It claimed that in 2011 at Windsor Castle, while having lunch with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the monarch criticised the union. Clegg denied that the Queen made such a statement, and a Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed that a complaint had been made to the Independent Press Standards Organisation over a breach of guidelines relating to accuracy.\n\nThe term Carnival is traditionally used in areas with a large Catholic presence. However, the Philippines, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, does not celebrate Carnival anymore since the dissolution of the Manila Carnival after 1939, the last carnival in the country. In historically Lutheran countries, the celebration is known as Fastelavn, and in areas with a high concentration of Anglicans and Methodists, pre-Lenten celebrations, along with penitential observances, occur on Shrove Tuesday. In Eastern Orthodox nations, Maslenitsa is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent. In German-speaking Europe and the Netherlands, the Carnival season traditionally opens on 11/11 (often at 11:11 a.m.). This dates back to celebrations before the Advent season or with harvest celebrations of St. Martin's Day.\n\nTraditionally a carnival feast was the last opportunity to eat well before the time of food shortage at the end of the winter during which one was limited to the minimum necessary. On what nowadays is called vastenavond (the days before fasting) all the remaining winter stores of lard, butter and meat which were left would be eaten, for it would soon start to rot and decay. The selected livestock had in fact already been slaughtered in November and the meat would be no longer preservable. All the food that had survived the winter had to be eaten to assure that everyone was fed enough to survive until the coming spring would provide new food sources.\n\nSeveral Germanic tribes celebrated the returning of the daylight. A predominant deity was during this jubilee driven around in a noisy procession on a ship on wheels. The winter would be driven out, to make sure that fertility could return in spring. A central figure was possibly the fertility goddess Nerthus. Also there are some indications that the effigy of Nerthus or Freyr was placed on a ship with wheels and accompanied by a procession of people in animal disguise and men in women's clothes. Aboard the ship would the marriage of a man and woman be consummated as a fertility ritual.\n\nCarnival (see other spellings and names) is a Christian festive season that occurs before the Christian season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typically involves a public celebration and/or parade combining some elements of a circus, masks and public street party. People wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods proscribed during Lent is extremely common. Other common features of carnival include mock battles such as food fights; social satire and mockery of authorities; the grotesque body displaying exaggerated features especially large noses, bellies, mouths, and phalli or elements of animal bodies; abusive language and degrading acts; depictions of disease and gleeful death; and a general reversal of everyday rules and norms. \n\nTacitus wrote in his Germania: Germania 9.6: Ceterum nec cohibere parietibus deos neque in ullam humani oris speciem adsimulare ex magnitudine caelestium arbitrator \u2013 \"The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance.\" Germania 40: mox vehiculum et vestis et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur \u2013 \"Afterwards the car, the vestments, and, if you like to believe it, the divinity herself, are purified in a secret lake.\"\n\nTraditionally the feast also applied to sexual desires, which were supposed to be suppressed during the following fasting. Before Lent began, all rich food and drink were consumed in what became a giant celebration that involved the whole community, and is thought to be the origin of Carnival. The Lenten period of the Liturgical calendar, the six weeks directly before Easter, was originally marked by fasting and other pious or penitential practices. During Lent, no parties or celebrations were held, and people refrained from eating rich foods, such as meat, dairy, fat and sugar.\n\nWhile christian festivals such as corpus christi were church-sanctioned celebrations, Carnival was also a manifestation of European folk culture. In the Christian tradition the fasting is to commemorate the 40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert according to the New Testament and also to reflect on Christian values. As with many other Christian festivals such as Christmas which was originally a pagan midwinter festival, the Christian church has found it easier to turn the pagan Carnaval in a catholic tradition than to eliminate it.  Unlike today, carnival in the Middle Ages took not just a few days, but it covered almost the entire period between Christmas and the beginning of Lent. In those two months, several Catholic holidays were seized by the Catholic population as an outlet for their daily frustrations.\n\nIn the year 743 the synod in Leptines (Leptines is located near Binche in Belgium) spoke out furiously against the excesses in the month of February. Also from the same period dates the phrase: \"Whoever in February by a variety of less honorable acts tries to drive out winter is not a Christian, but a pagan.\" Confession books from around 800 contain more information about how people would dress as an animal or old woman during the festivities in January and February, even though this was a sin with no small penance. Also in Spain, San Isidoro de Sevilla is written complaint in the seventh century that people coming out into the streets disguised in many cases the opposite gender.\n\nWhile forming an integral part of the Christian calendar, particularly in Catholic regions, many Carnival traditions resemble those antedating Christianity. Italian Carnival is sometimes thought to be derived from the ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Bacchanalia. The Saturnalia, in turn, may be based on the Greek Dionysia and Oriental festivals. For the start of the Roman Saturnalia, on December 17 authorities chose an enemy of the Roman people to represent the Lord of Misrule in each community. These men and women were forced to indulge in food and physical pleasures throughout the week, horribly murdered on December 25th: \"destroying the forces of darkness\".\n<Assistant>Thank you for sharing. I've noted this information.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-06 00:00]\n<User>I've gathered some additional data to share:\nWhile medieval pageants and festivals such as Corpus Christi were church-sanctioned, Carnival was also a manifestation of medieval folk culture. Many local Carnival customs are claimed to derive from local pre-Christian rituals, such as elaborate rites involving masked figures in the Swabian\u2013Alemannic Fastnacht. However, evidence is insufficient to establish a direct origin from Saturnalia or other ancient festivals. No complete accounts of Saturnalia survive and the shared features of feasting, role reversals, temporary social equality, masks and permitted rule-breaking do not necessarily constitute a coherent festival or link these festivals. These similarities may represent a reservoir of cultural resources that can embody multiple meanings and functions. For example, Easter begins with the resurrection of Jesus, followed by a liminal period and ends with rebirth. Carnival reverses this as King Carnival comes to life, a liminal period follows before his death. Both feasts are calculated by the lunar calendar. Both Jesus and King Carnival may be seen as expiatory figures who make a gift to the people with their deaths. In the case of Jesus, the gift is eternal life in heaven and in the case of King Carnival, the acknowledgement that death is a necessary part of the cycle of life. Besides Christian anti-Judaism, the commonalities between church and Carnival rituals and imagery suggest a common root. Christ's passion is itself grotesque: Since early Christianity Christ is figured as the victim of summary judgement, is tortured and executed by Romans before a Jewish mob (\"His blood is on us and on our children!\" Matthew 27:24\u201325). Holy Week processions in Spain include crowds who vociferously insult the figure of Jesus. Irreverence, parody, degradation and laughter at a tragicomic effigy God can be seen as intensifications of the sacred order. In 1466, the Catholic Church under Pope Paul II revieved customs of the Saturnalia carnival: Jews were forced to race naked through the streets of the city of Rome. \u201cBefore they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran\u2026 amid Rome\u2019s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily\u201d, an eyewitness reports.\n\nSome of the best-known traditions, including carnal parades and masquerade balls, were first recorded in medieval Italy. The carnival of Venice was, for a long time, the most famous carnival (although Napoleon abolished it in 1797 and only in 1979 was the tradition restored). From Italy, Carnival traditions spread to Spain, Portugal and France and from France to New France in North America. From Spain and Portugal it spread with colonization to the Caribbean and Latin America. In the early 19th century in the German Rhineland and Southern Netherlands, the weakened medieval tradition also revive. Continuously in the 18th and 19th centuries CE, as part of the annual Saturnalia abuse of the carnival in Rome, rabbis of the ghetto were forced to march through the city streets wearing foolish guise, jeered upon and pelted by a variety of missiles from the crowd. A petition of the Jewish community of Rome sent in 1836 to Pope Gregory XVI to stop the annual anti-semitic Saturnalia abuse got a negation: \u201cIt is not opportune to make any innovation.\u201d\n\nCarnival was introduced by Portuguese settlers. The celebration is celebrated on each of the archipelago's nine inhabited islands. In Mindelo, S\u00e3o Vicente groups challenge each other for a yearly prize. It has imported various Brazilian carnival traditions. The celebration in S\u00e3oNicolau is more traditional, where established groups parade through the Ribeira Brava, gathering in the town square, although it has adopted drums, floats and costumes from Brazil. In S\u00e3o Nicolau three groups, Copa Cabana, Estrela Azul and Brilho Da Zona constructs a painted float using fire, newspaper for the mold, iron and steel to for structure. Carnival S\u00e3o Nicolau is celebrated over three days: dawn Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and Tuesday.\n\nIn India, Carnival is celebrated only in the state of Goa and a Roman Catholic tradition, where it is known as Intruz which means swindler while Entrudo, the appropriate word in Portuguese for Carnival. The largest celebration takes place in the city of Panjim which was part of Velha Conquista, Goa, but now is celebrate throughout the state. The tradition was introduced by the Portuguese who ruled Goa for over four centuries. On Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday, the European Tradition of Fat Tuesday is celebrated with the partaking of eating of crepes also called as \"AleBelle.\" The crepes are filled with freshly grated coconut and heat condensed coconut sap that sequentially converts it into a brown sweet molasses and additional heat concentration solidifies it to jaggery. The celebrations of Carnival peak for three days and nights and precede Ash Wednesday. When the legendary King Momo takes over the state. All-night parades occur throughout the state with bands, dances and floats and grand balls are held in the evenings.\n\nThe Carnival of Malmedy is locally called Cwarm\u00ea. Even if Malmedy is located in the east Belgium, near the German-speaking area, the Cwarm\u00ea is a pure walloon and Latin carnival. The celebration takes place during 4 days before the Shrove Tuesday. The Cwarm\u00ea Sunday is the most important and insteresting to see. All the old traditional costumes parade in the street. The Cwarm\u00ea is a \"street carnival\" and is not only a parade. People who are disguised pass through the crowd and perform a part of the traditional costume they wear. The famous traditional costumes at the Cwarm\u00ea of Malmedy are the Hagu\u00e8te, the Longu\u00e8s-Br\u00e8sses and the Long-N\u00e9.\n<Assistant>Noted. I'll remember these details.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-07 00:00]\n<User>Here are some news I learnt earlier:\nSome Belgian cities hold Carnivals during Lent. One of the best-known is Stavelot, where the Carnival de la Laetare takes place on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent. The participants include the Blancs-Moussis, who dress in white, carry long red noses and parade through town attacking bystanders with confetti and dried pig bladders. The town of Halle also celebrates on Laetare Sunday. Belgium's oldest parade is the Carnival Parade of Maaseik, also held on Laetare Sunday, which originated in 1865.\n\nMany towns in Croatia's Kvarner region (and in other parts of the country) observe the Carnival period, incorporating local traditions and celebrating local culture. Just before the end of Carnival, every Kvarner town burns a man-like doll called a \"Jure Pi\u0161kanac\", who is blamed for all the strife of the previous year. The Zvon\u010dari, or bell-ringers, wear bells and large head regalia representing their areas of origin (for example, those from Halubje wear regalia in the shape of animal heads). The traditional Carnival food is fritule, a pastry. This festival can also be called Poklade.\n\nCarnival has been celebrated for centuries. The tradition was likely established under Venetian rule around the 16th century. It may have been influenced by Greek traditions, such as festivities for deities such as Dionysus. The celebration originally involved dressing in costumes and holding masked balls or visiting friends. In the twentieth century it became an organized event held during the 10 days preceding Lent (according to the Greek Orthodox calendar). The festival is celebrated almost exclusively in the city of Limassol.\n\nThree main parades take place during Carnival. The first is held on the first day, during which the \"Carnival King\" (either a person in costume or an effigy) rides through the city on his carriage. The second is held on the first Sunday of the festival and the participants are mainly children. The third and largest takes place on the last day of Carnival and involves hundreds of people walking in costume along the town's longest avenue. The latter two parades are open to anyone who wishes to participate.\n\nIn Norway, students having seen celebrations in Paris introduced Carnival processions, masked balls and Carnival balls to Christiana in the 1840s and 1850s. From 1863, the artist federation kunstnerforeningen held annual Carnival balls in the old Freemasons lodge, which inspired Johan Svendsens compositions \"Norsk Kunstnerkarneval\" and \"Karneval in Paris\". The following year, Svendsens Festpolonaise was written for the opening procession. Edvard Grieg attended and wrote \"aus dem Karneval\" (folkelivsbilleder Op. 19). Since 1988, the student organization T\u00e5rnseilerne has produced annual masquerade balls in Oslo, with masks, costumes and processions after attending an opera performance. The Carnival season also includes Fastelavens s\u00f8ndag (with cream buns) and fastelavensris with decorated branches.\n\nThe \"Rheinische\" Carnival is held in the west of Germany, mainly in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia or Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rhineland Palatinate or Rheinland-Pfalz, but also in Hessen [including Oberhessen], Bavaria and other states. Some cities are more famous for celebrations such as parades and costume balls. K\u00f6ln or Cologne Carnival, as well as Mainz and D\u00fcsseldorf are the largest and most famous. Other cities have their own, often less well-known celebrations, parades and parties such as Worms am Rhein, Speyer, Kaiserslautern, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart, Augsburg and M\u00fcnchen [Munich] N\u00fcrnberg. On Carnival Thursday (called \"Old Women Day\" or \"The Women's Day\") in commemoration of an 1824 revolt by washer-women, women storm city halls, cut men's ties, and are allowed to kiss any passing man.\n\nIn Greece Carnival is also known as the Apokri\u00e9s (Greek: \u0391\u03c0\u03bf\u03ba\u03c1\u03b9\u03ad\u03c2, \"saying goodbye to meat\"), or the season of the \"Opening of the Triodion\", so named after the liturgical book used by the church from then until Holy Week. One of the season's high points is Tsiknopempti, when celebrants enjoy roast beef dinners; the ritual is repeated the following Sunday. The following week, the last before Lent, is called Tyrin\u0113 (Greek: \u03a4\u03c5\u03c1\u03b9\u03bd\u03ae, \"cheese [week]\") because meat is forbidden, although dairy products are not. Lent begins on \"Clean Monday\", the day after \"Cheese Sunday\". Throughout the Carnival season, people disguise themselves as maskar\u00e1des (\"masqueraders\") and engage in pranks and revelry.\n<Assistant>Sure I will remember them.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-08 00:00]\n<User>I want to tell you about some new discoveries:\nOther regions host festivities of smaller extent, focused on the reenactment of traditional carnevalic customs, such as Tyrnavos (Thessaly), Kozani (West Macedonia), Rethymno (Crete) and in Xanthi (East Macedonia and Thrace). Tyrnavos holds an annual Phallus festival, a traditional \"phallkloric\" event in which giant, gaudily painted effigies of phalluses made of papier mach\u00e9 are paraded, and which women are asked to touch or kiss. Their reward for so doing is a shot of the famous local tsipouro alcohol spirit. Every year, from 1 to 8 January, mostly in regions of Western Macedonia, Carnival fiestas and festivals erupt. The best known is the Kastorian Carnival or \"Ragoutsaria\" (Gr. \"\u03a1\u03b1\u03b3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03c4\u03c3\u03ac\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1\") [tags: Kastoria, Kastorian Carnival, Ragoutsaria, \u03a1\u03b1\u03b3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03c4\u03c3\u03b1\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1, \u039a\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u03b9\u03ac]. It takes place from 6 to 8 January with mass participation serenaded by brass bands, pipises, Macedonian and grand casa drums. It is an ancient celebration of nature's rebirth (fiestas for Dionysus (Dionysia) and Kronos (Saturnalia)), which ends the third day in a dance in the medieval square Ntoltso where the bands play at the same time.\n\nCarnival in the Netherlands is called Carnaval, Vastenavond or Vastelaovend(j), and is most celebrated in traditionally Catholic regions, mainly the southern provinces North Brabant and Limburg. Dutch Carnaval is officially celebrated on the Sunday through Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday. Although traditions vary from town to town, some common characteristics of Dutch Carnaval include a parade, a \"prince\" plus cort\u00e8ge (\"Jester/adjutant and Council of 11\"), a Peasant Wedding (boerenbruiloft), and eating herring (haring happen) on Ash Wednesday.\n\nThe Strumica Carnival (Macedonian: \u0421\u0442\u0440\u0443\u043c\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0438 \u041a\u0430\u0440\u043d\u0435\u0432\u0430\u043b, translated Strumichki Karneval) has been held since at least 1670, when the Turkish author Evlija Chelebija wrote while staying there, \"I came into a town located in the foothills of a high hillock and what I saw that night was masked people running house\u2013to\u2013house, with laughter, scream and song.\" The Carnival took an organized form in 1991; in 1994, Strumica became a member of FECC and in 1998 hosted the XVIII International Congress of Carnival Cities. The Strumica Carnival opens on a Saturday night at a masked ball where the Prince and Princess are chosen; the main Carnival night is on Tuesday, when masked participants (including groups from abroad) compete in various subjects. As of 2000, the Festival of Caricatures and Aphorisms has been held as part of Strumica's Carnival celebrations.\n\nThe Slovenian countryside displays a variety of disguised groups and individual characters among which the most popular and characteristic is the Kurent (plural: Kurenti), a monstrous and demon-like, but fluffy figure. The most significant festival is held in Ptuj (see: Kurentovanje). Its special feature are the Kurents themselves, magical creatures from another world, who visit major events throughout the country, trying to banish the winter and announce spring's arrival, fertility, and new life with noise and dancing. The origin of the Kurent is a mystery, and not much is known of the times, beliefs, or purposes connected with its first appearance. The origin of the name itself is obscure.\n<Assistant>Noted. I'll remember these details.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-09 00:00]\n<User>I'd like to tell you about some recent findings:\nThe most famous groups are the chirigotas, choirs and comparsas. The chirigotas are well known witty, satiric popular groups who sing about politics, new times and household topics, wearing the same costume, which they prepare for the whole year. The Choirs (coros) are wider groups that go on open carts through the streets singing with an orchestra of guitars and lutes. Their signature piece is the \"Carnival Tango\", alternating comical and serious repertory. The comparsas are the serious counterpart of the chirigota in C\u00e1diz, and the poetic lyrics and the criticism are their main ingredients. They have a more elaborated polyphony that is easily recognizable by the typical countertenor voice.\n\nIn Catalonia people dress in masks and costume (often in themed groups) and organize a week-long series of parties, pranks, outlandish activities such as bed races, street dramas satirizing public figures and raucous processions to welcome the arrival of Sa Majestat el Rei Carnestoltes (His Majesty King Carnival), known by various titles, including el Rei dels poca-soltes (King of the Crackpots), Princep etern de Cornudella (Eternal Prince of Cuckoldry), Duc de ximples i corrumputs (Duke of Fools and the Corrupt), Marqu\u00e8s de la bona mamella (Marquis of the lovely breast), Comte de tots els barruts (Count of the Insolent), Bar\u00f3 de les Calaverades (Baron of Nocturnal Debaucheries), and Senyor de l'alt Pl\u00e0tan florit, dels barraquers i gamberrades i artista d'honor dalt del llit (Lord of the Tall Banana in Bloom, of the Voyeurs and Punks and the Artist of Honor upon the Bed).\n\nThe King presides over a period of misrule in which conventional social rules may be broken and reckless behavior is encouraged. Festivities are held in the open air, beginning with a cercavila, a ritual procession throughout the town to call everyone to attend. Rues of masked revelers dance alongside. On Thursday Dijous Gras (Fat Thursday) is celebrated, also called 'omelette day' (el dia de la truita), coques (de llardons, butifarra d'ou, butifarra) and omelettes are eaten. The festivities end on Ash Wednesday with elaborate funeral rituals marking the death of King Carnival, who is typically burned on a pyre in what is called the burial of the sardine (enterrament de la sardina), or, in Vilanova, as l'enterro.\n\nThe Carnival of Vilanova i la Geltr\u00fa has documented history from 1790 and is one of the richest in the variety of its acts and rituals. It adopts an ancient style in which satire, the grotesque body (particularly cross-dressing and displays of exaggerated bellies, noses and phalli) and above all, active participation are valued over glamorous, media-friendly spectacles that Vilanovins mock as \"thighs and feathers\". It is best known for Les Comparses (held on Sunday), a tumultuous dance in which 12,000 or more dancers organized into rival groups throw 75 tons of hard candies at one other. The women protect their faces with Mantons de Manila (Manila shawls) but eye-patches and slings for broken arms are common the following week. Vilanovins organize an elaborate ritual for the arrival of King Carnival called l'Arrivo that changes every year. It includes a raucous procession of floats and dancers lampooning current events or public figures and a bitingly satiric sermon (el sermo) delivered by the King himself. On Dijous Gras, Vilanovin children are excused from school to participate in the Merengada, a day-long scene of eating and fighting with sticky, sweet meringue.\n\nAdults have a meringue battle at midnight at the historic Pla\u00e7a de les Cols. In the mysterious sortida del Moixo Foguer (the outing of Little-Bird-Bonfire) accompanied by the Xerraire (jabberer) who insults the crowd. In the King's precession he and his concubines scandalize the town with their sexual behavior. A correfoc (fire run) or Devil's dance (Ball de diables, features dancing youth amid the sparks and explosions of the ritual crew of devils. Other items includes bed races in the streets, the debauched Nit dels Mascarots, Karaoke sausage roasts, xatonades, the children's party, Vidalet, the last night of revelry, Vidalot, the talking-dance of the Mismatched Couples (Ball de Malcasats) and the children's King Caramel whose massive belly, long nose and sausage-like hair hint at his insatiable appetites.\n<Assistant>Thanks for sharing. I've committed this to memory.", "[Dialogue between User and Assistant on 2024-01-10 00:00]\n<User>I'd like to tell you about some recent findings:\nFor the King's funeral, people dress in elaborate mourning costume, many of them cross-dressing men who carry bouquets of phallic vegetables. In the funeral house, the body of the King is surrounded by an honor guard and weeping concubines, crying over the loss of sexual pleasure brought about by his death. The King's body is carried to the Pla\u00e7a de la Vila where a satiric eulogy is delivered while the townspeople eat salty grilled sardines with bread and wine, suggesting the symbolic cannibalism of the communion ritual. Finally, amid rockets and explosions, the King's body is burned in a massive pyre.\n\nCarnaval de Solsona takes place in Solsona, Lleida. It is one of the longest; free events in the streets, and nightly concerts run for more than a week. The Carnival is known for a legend that explains how a donkey was hung at the tower bell \u2212 because the animal wanted to eat grass that grew on the top of the tower. To celebrate this legend, locals hang a stuffed donkey at the tower that \"pisses\" above the excited crowd using a water pump. This event is the most important and takes place on Saturday night. For this reason, the inhabitants are called \"matarrucs\" (\"donkey killers\").\n\nTarragona has one of the region's most complete ritual sequences. The events start with the building of a huge barrel and ends with its burning with the effigies of the King and Queen. On Saturday, the main parade takes place with masked groups, zoomorphic figures, music and percussion bands, and groups with fireworks (the devils, the dragon, the ox, the female dragon). Carnival groups stand out for their clothes full of elegance, showing brilliant examples of fabric crafts, at the Saturday and Sunday parades. About 5,000 people are members of the parade groups.\n\nCarnival means weeks of events that bring colourfully decorated floats, contagiously throbbing music, luxuriously costumed groups of celebrants of all ages, King and Queen elections, electrifying jump-ups and torchlight parades, the Jouvert morning: the Children's Parades and finally the Grand Parade. Aruba's biggest celebration is a month-long affair consisting of festive \"jump-ups\" (street parades), spectacular parades and creative contests. Music and flamboyant costumes play a central role, from the Queen elections to the Grand Parade. Street parades continue in various districts throughout the month, with brass band, steel drum and roadmarch tunes. On the evening before Lent, Carnival ends with the symbolic burning of King Momo.\n\nCarnival is known as Crop Over and is Barbados's biggest festival. Its early beginnings were on the sugar cane plantations during the colonial period. Crop over began in 1688, and featured singing, dancing and accompaniment by shak-shak, banjo, triangle, fiddle, guitar, bottles filled with water and bones. Other traditions included climbing a greased pole, feasting and drinking competitions. Originally signaling the end of the yearly cane harvest, it evolved into a national festival. In the late 20th century, Crop Over began to closely mirror the Trinidad Carnival. Beginning in June, Crop Over runs until the first Monday in August when it culminates in the finale, The Grand Kadooment.\n\nA major feature is the calypso competition. Calypso music, originating in Trinidad, uses syncopated rhythm and topical lyrics. It offers a medium in which to satirise local politics, amidst the general bacchanal. Calypso tents, also originating in Trinidad, feature cadres of musicians who perform biting social commentaries, political expos\u00e9s or rousing exhortations to \"wuk dah waistline\" and \"roll dat bumper\". The groups compete for the Calypso Monarch Award, while the air is redolent with the smells of Bajan cooking during the Bridgetown Market Street Fair. The Cohobblopot Festival blends dance, drama and music with the crowning of the King and Queen of costume bands. Every evening the \"Pic-o-de-Crop\" Show is performed after the King of Calypso is finally crowned. The climax of the festival is Kadooment Day celebrated with a national holiday when costume bands fill the streets with pulsating Barbadian rhythms and fireworks.\n\nComparsas are held throughout the week, consisting of large groups \"of dancers dancing and traveling on the streets, followed by a Carrosa (carriage) where the musicians play. The Comparsa is a development of African processions where groups of devotees follow a given saint or deity during a particular religious celebration\". One of the most popular comparsas of Fiesta de Carnaval is the male group comparsa, usually composed of notable men from the community who dress up in outlandish costumes or cross-dress and dance to compete for money and prizes. Other popular activities include body painting and flour fighting. \"On the last day of Carnival painters flood the street to paint each other. This simply means that a mixture of water paint and water or raw eggs is used to paint people on the streets, the goal being to paint as many people as you can\".\n\nCarnival in Haiti started in 1804 in the capital Port-au-Prince after the declaration of independence. The Port-au-Prince Carnival is one of the largest in North America. It is known as Kanaval in the Creole language. It starts in January, known as \"Pre-Kanaval\", while the main carnival activities begin in February. In July 2012, Haiti had another carnival called Kanaval de Fleur. Beautiful costumes, floats, Rara parades, masks, foods, and popular rasin music (like Boukman Eksperyans, Foula Vodoule, Tokay, Boukan Ginen, Eritaj, etc.) and kompa bands (such as T-Vice, Djakout No. 1, Sweet Micky, Krey\u00f2l La, D.P. Express, Mizik Mizik, Ram, T-Micky, Carimi, Djakout Mizik, and Scorpio Fever) play for dancers in the streets of the plaza of Champ-de-Mars. An annual song competition takes place.\n\nJ'ouvert, or \"Dirty Mas\", takes place before dawn on the Monday (known as Carnival Monday) before Ash Wednesday. It means \"\"opening of the day\". Revelers dress in costumes embodying puns on current affairs, especially political and social events. \"Clean Mud\" (clay mud), oil paint and body paint are familiar during J'ouvert. A common character is \"Jab-jabs\" (devils, blue, black or red) complete with pitchfork, pointed horns and tails. A King and Queen of J'ouvert are chosen, based on their witty political/social messages.\n\nCarnival Tuesday hosts the main events. Full costume is worn, complete with make-up and body paint/adornment. Usually \"Mas Boots\" that complement the costumes are worn. Each band has their costume presentation based on a particular theme, and contains various sections (some consisting of thousands of revelers) that reflect these themes. The street parade and band costume competition take place. The mas bands eventually converge on the Queen's Park Savannah to pass on \"The Stage\" for judging. The singer of the most played song is crowned Road March King or Queen earning prize money and usually a vehicle.\n\nIn Mexico, Carnival is celebrated in about 225 cities and towns. The largest is in Mazatl\u00e1n and the city of Veracruz with others in Baja California and Yucat\u00e1n. The larger city Carnivals employ costumes, elected queens and parades with floats, but Carnival celebrations in smaller and rural areas vary widely depending on the level of European influence during Mexico's colonial period. The largest of these is in Huejotzingo, Puebla where most townspeople take part in mock combat with rifles shooting blanks, roughly based on the Battle of Puebla. Other important states with local traditions include Morelos, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala and Chiapas.\n\nCarnival celebrations, usually referred to as Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday in French), were first celebrated in the Gulf Coast area, but now occur in many states. Customs originated in the onetime French colonial capitals of Mobile (now in Alabama), New Orleans (Louisiana) and Biloxi (Mississippi), all of which have celebrated for many years with street parades and masked balls. Other major American cities with celebrations include Washington, DC; St. Louis, Missouri; San Francisco; San Diego; Galveston, Texas; and Miami, Pensacola, Tampa, and Orlando in Florida.\n\nCarnival is celebrated in New York City in Brooklyn. As in the UK, the timing of Carnival split from the Christian calendar and is celebrated on Labor Day Monday, in September. It is called the Labor Day Carnival, West Indian Day Parade or West Indian Day Carnival, and was founded by immigrants from Trinidad. That country has one of the largest Caribbean Carnivals. In the mid twentieth century, West Indians moved the event from the beginning of Lent to the Labor Day weekend. Carnival is one of the largest parades and street festivals in New York, with over one million attending. The parade, which consists of steel bands, floats, elaborate Carnival costumes and sound trucks, proceeds along Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood.\n<Assistant>Thank you for sharing. I've noted this information."]
[{"question": "In what square do the bands all play at once?", "answer": "Ntoltso"}, {"question": "Which two nations has The Sun been very antagonistic towards?", "answer": "French and Germans"}, {"question": "Who weeps around the body of the King?", "answer": "concubines"}, {"question": "What are the giant, gaudily painted effigies of phalluses made of?", "answer": "papier mach\u00e9"}, {"question": "Who criticized The Sun for its reporting on AIDS and HIV?", "answer": "The Press Council"}, {"question": "What ritual suggests symbolic cannibalism?", "answer": "communion"}, {"question": "How long is the Lenten period of the Liturgical calendar?", "answer": "six weeks"}, {"question": "Despite being located in East Belgium, Malmedy's Carnival harks purely to what area?", "answer": "Latin"}, {"question": "About how many cities and towns in Mexico is Carnival celebrated in?", "answer": "225"}, {"question": "Which Sun reporter was found guilty in 2015?", "answer": "Anthony France"}, {"question": "What legendary king eventually takes over the state?", "answer": "Momo"}, {"question": "A carnival feast is the last time to do what before winter?", "answer": "eat well"}, {"question": "From which issue did claims that The Sun was racist stem?", "answer": "immigration"}, {"question": "Washington, D.C. and Galveston, Texas are some major American cities which have what?", "answer": "celebrations"}, {"question": "Who ran from house to house, laughing, screaming, and singing?", "answer": "masked people"}, {"question": "Who opposed the poll tax?", "answer": "Conservative MPs"}, {"question": "Where is the divinity herself purified?", "answer": "a secret lake"}, {"question": "What is used in some of the festive fights?", "answer": "flour"}, {"question": "Many towns in what region of Croatia observe the Carnival period?", "answer": "Kvarner"}, {"question": "What type of tribe celebrated daylight returning?", "answer": "Germanic"}, {"question": "What event precipitated the Carnival starting in Haiti?", "answer": "declaration of independence"}, {"question": "What breed of dog did The Sun mistakenly report that Elton John owned?", "answer": "Rottweiler"}, {"question": "Who was previously Starr's public relations agent?", "answer": "Max Clifford"}, {"question": "What would some people in Spain go out disguised as?", "answer": "the opposite gender"}, {"question": "What is the ancient celebration for?", "answer": "nature's rebirth"}, {"question": "What was Rooney's age at the time of the Hillsborough disaster?", "answer": "three years old"}, {"question": "What is the name of the festival celebrated in Eastern Orthodox nations during the last week before Great Lent?", "answer": "Maslenitsa"}, {"question": "What do people walk along the town's longest avenue in?", "answer": "costume"}, {"question": "Who wrote the headline \"The Truth\"?", "answer": "Kelvin MacKenzie"}, {"question": "What does vastenavond mean?", "answer": "the days before fasting"}, {"question": "All rich food and drink were consumed before what named event?", "answer": "Lent"}, {"question": "In what year did the synod in Leptines rant against the excesses of the festival?", "answer": "743"}, {"question": "What nationality were the settlers from who introduced Carnival?", "answer": "Portuguese"}, {"question": "On Twitter what famous person condemned Hopkins' remarks?", "answer": "Russell Brand"}, {"question": "Who was appointed presiding judge over the retrial in 2015?", "answer": "Charles Wide"}, {"question": "What contributes to the variations of the celebrations in the rural areas?", "answer": "level of European influence"}, {"question": "Who was forced to race naked through the streets of Rom by Pope Paul II?", "answer": "Jews"}, {"question": "How long does Aruba's biggest celebration last?", "answer": "a month"}, {"question": "Who is the children's King?", "answer": "Caramel"}, {"question": "Who has the most elaborated polyphony?", "answer": "The comparsas"}, {"question": "In what dance do the participants lob more than 75 tons of hard candy at each other?", "answer": "Les Comparses"}, {"question": "How many days does Malmedy's festival take place before Shrove Tuesday?", "answer": "4"}, {"question": "Who did The Sun allege that Elton John had sex with?", "answer": "rent boys"}, {"question": "What type of bands play for dancers in the streets?", "answer": "kompa"}, {"question": "Who wrote the actual story?", "answer": "Harry Arnold"}, {"question": "What were rabbis from the ghettos forced to march through the city streets wearing?", "answer": "foolish guise"}, {"question": "What behavior scandalizes the town?", "answer": "sexual"}, {"question": "What's the name of the day-long agenda of eating and fighting with meringue?", "answer": "Merengada"}, {"question": "What is eaten on Fat Tuesday to partake in the celebration?", "answer": "crepes"}, {"question": "How many parades take place during Carnival?", "answer": "Three"}, {"question": "What are the clothing of the Carnival groups full of?", "answer": "elegance"}, {"question": "What pagan midwinter festival did the church find easier to subvert than eliminate?", "answer": "Christmas"}, {"question": "Who throws insults at the crowd?", "answer": "the Xerraire"}, {"question": "What do disguised people pass through during the festival?", "answer": "the crowd"}, {"question": "What do some Belgian cities hold during Lent?", "answer": "Carnivals"}, {"question": "Who was writing a book with McCaffrey?", "answer": "Starr"}, {"question": "How would the marriage of a man and woman on the ship serve as a fertility ritual?", "answer": "be consummated"}, {"question": "How did the case against Tulisa fare?", "answer": "collapsed"}, {"question": "What continues in various districts throughout the month of the Carnival?", "answer": "Street parades"}, {"question": "What was the television program that would have been affected by the attack?", "answer": "Coronation Street"}, {"question": "What is the climax of the festival called?", "answer": "Kadooment Day"}, {"question": "Who revolted in 1824?", "answer": "washer-women"}, {"question": "What was one limited to during the winter?", "answer": "the minimum necessary"}, {"question": "Which of the festivals is comprised of participants who are mainly children?", "answer": "The second"}, {"question": "How much had been invested in the new printing locations?", "answer": "\u00a3600 million"}, {"question": "What team did Rooney transfer to?", "answer": "Manchester United"}, {"question": "Fat Thursday is also known as what day?", "answer": "omelette day"}, {"question": "In what month did the excesses occur?", "answer": "February"}, {"question": "The Philippines stopped celebrating Carnival after what year?", "answer": "1939"}, {"question": "What is consumed on Ash Wednesday?", "answer": "herring"}, {"question": "What does every Kvarner town burn just before the end of the Carnival?", "answer": "a man-like doll"}, {"question": "How long can the nightly concerts run for?", "answer": "more than a week"}, {"question": "Who was the judge in this particular case?", "answer": "Richard Marks"}, {"question": "What journalist did The Daily Mirror wrest from The Sun?", "answer": "John Blake"}, {"question": "On what day is full costume worn?", "answer": "Carnival Tuesday"}, {"question": "Who did the Independent state wouldn't decide the election?", "answer": "Rupert Murdoch"}, {"question": "What do groups in Mindelo challenge each other for?", "answer": "a yearly prize"}, {"question": "Who has one of the most complete ritual agendas?", "answer": "Tarragona"}, {"question": "Carnival was also a result of what area's folk culture?", "answer": "European"}, {"question": "When does  Dirty Mas take place on the Monday before Ash Wednesday?", "answer": "before dawn"}, {"question": "On what day does the main parade take place?", "answer": "Saturday"}, {"question": "What is the ritual procession through the town to call everyone to attendance called?", "answer": "cercavila"}, {"question": "Which group rides around in open carts through the streets?", "answer": "The Choirs"}, {"question": "What are \"jab-jabs\"?", "answer": "devils"}, {"question": "What year did the Carnival start in Haiti?", "answer": "1804"}, {"question": "What day does the town of Halle engage in its celebration?", "answer": "Laetare Sunday"}, {"question": "What type of costumes play a central role in the Queen elections?", "answer": "flamboyant"}, {"question": "What type of eulogy is provided for the King?", "answer": "satiric"}, {"question": "Which writer in The Guardian was critical of Hopkins?", "answer": "Zoe Williams"}, {"question": "Who dismissed the petition of the Jewish community to stop the abuse of them?", "answer": "Pope Gregory XVI"}, {"question": "What countryside has multiple groups and individuals in disguise?", "answer": "Slovenian"}, {"question": "Who wrote critically in The Independent about Hopkins?", "answer": "Simon Usborne"}, {"question": "What was the name of Starr's autobiography?", "answer": "Unwrapped"}, {"question": "Where do people dress in masks and costume?", "answer": "Catalonia"}, {"question": "How was the ship carrying a predominant deity moved around during the jubilee?", "answer": "on wheels"}, {"question": "What type of annual competition takes place during Kanavel?", "answer": "song"}, {"question": "What type of books from around 800 contain more information of people's traditions during this period?", "answer": "Confession"}, {"question": "Where did The sun lose a large portion of its daily sales as a result of the front page?", "answer": "Liverpool"}, {"question": "What happened to the men and women chosen to represent the Lord of Misrule?", "answer": "horribly murdered"}, {"question": "How was French president Jacques Chirac described by The Sun?", "answer": "le Worm"}]