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What does a Russian literary critic and philosopher have to do with Halloween? Plenty, if you celebrate traditions of dressing up and believing in the power of costume. Mikhail Bakhtin believed people practice Carnivalesque traditions to release the pressure of living under repressive regimes (in displays of power and aggression that were Church-sanctioned, as long
What do we mean by Carnivalesque? Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian literary critic and philosopher, wrote about the Carnivalesque in literature. It is a suspension of rules, practiced during Carnivale (carne-vale, translated as “farewell, meat”) and Mardi Gras, the celebration before the austerity of Lent, and during Halloween. It was a way to acknowledge that despite the
The Carr Port 