Quebec Winter Carnival

Quebec Winter Carnival

The Quebec Winter Carnaval (French: Carnaval de Québec) Festival is a festival held in Quebec City. The festival's events include a winter amusement park, with attractions such as skiing, snow rafting, ice sculptures, snow sled slides and outdoor shows and it is usually held in February.The Carnival starts on February 1 to 17.

It is a tradition to feast for a week or two up until Mardi gras ("Fat Tuesday", or Shrove Tuesday) before the 40-day-long fasting observance of Lent begins. Carnival celebrations were a private affair long before the first organized event came to light in 1894 in Quebec city with the erection of the first Ice Castle.

After being held on and off for over half a century, the Quebec City Carnival has been held uninterruptedly since 1955. This year, a magical large Ice Palace was built for Bonhomme, the Carnival's guest of honour, for the first time in Jacques Cartier Square. The impressive ice construction even had a dungeon, used to jokingly jail Carnival-goers who refused to honour Bonhomme's effigy. Bonhomme and his Palace are located opposite the Quebec Winter Carnival at Place d'Youville. Crowds gathered to dance and celebrate at the site that had special lighting and entertainment for the occasion. In 1973, Bonhomme Ice Palace was moved opposite Québec's National Assembly, on the foot of the Upper City wall (fortifications), right next to the entrance of the main setting of Carnival on the Plains of Abraham.