Carnivals from here and elsewhere: a universal celebration told in Draguignan

A journey through 28 centuries of festive traditions

From December 13, 2025 to March 22, 2026, the Hotel des Expositions du Var in Draguignan hosts an immersive exhibition: "Carnavals d'ici et d'ailleurs" (Carnivals from Here and Elsewhere), presented by the Var Department. This cultural event celebrates carnivals from around the world through their costumes, origins, music, audio tours, and deeply human dimension.

From the Roman Saturnalia to Rio, from the Gilles de Binche to the flower-covered floats of Nice, every culture has shaped its own carnival -- always different, yet always carrying a common message: freedom, sharing, role reversal, and collective joy.

Ancient origins, living traditions

The exhibition reveals that carnival predates modern festivities. Long before colourful floats and confetti, people celebrated the end of winter and the return of light:

During the Roman Saturnalia, the social order was inverted: slaves became masters, and conventions were suspended in a climate of celebration.

The Lupercalia honoured Faunus, god of nature and fertility. Men ran through the streets wearing animal skins, symbolically striking passers-by to encourage fertility.

In Celtic pagan festivals, half-human, half-animal figures such as Cernunnos testified to the strong bond between humans and nature.

Closer to our time, the Bear Festival in the Vallespir or the masked characters of the Moroccan Achoura, such as Boujloud, recall this ritual tension between wildness, rebirth, and restored social order.

All these rites share a common idea: carnival is a time of metamorphosis, a pause from daily life to emerge renewed.

An exhibition rich in colour and discovery

The "Carnavals d'ici et d'ailleurs" exhibition offers a vivid, carefully staged tour, enriched with multilingual audio trails that guide visitors through epochs and continents. This approach provides an immersive audio experience at the heart of each carnival tradition.

Costumes, masks, objects, videos, sound archives -- visitors discover how carnivals express, in their own way, the history, beliefs, resistance, and popular joys of each culture.

Numerous activities accompany the exhibition: - Standard guided tours and curator-led tours - Behind-the-scenes visits explaining how the exhibition was built - Playful trails for children - Sensory and adapted trails (for deaf and visually impaired visitors) - Mask-making workshops - Lectures led by MUCEM experts

Why visit this exhibition?

Because it celebrates what we all share: the need for celebration, transformation, and freedom.

It is not simply about "having fun," but about: - Reconnecting with ancestral rites - Understanding the role of the mask, laughter, and satire - Listening, seeing, feeling -- through an audio tour that is rich and accessible to all.

This sonic and visual carnival touches on the essential: what connects us to nature, to others, and to our need to reinvent ourselves.

Practical information

Hotel des Expositions du Var -- 1, boulevard Marechal Foch -- Draguignan December 13, 2025 to March 22, 2026 Open daily from 10 AM to 7 PM Closed on December 25, January 1, and May 1 Free admission

Conclusion

"Carnavals d'ici et d'ailleurs" is more than an exhibition: it is an immersive audio tour that tells the masked stories of humanity, its rituals of renewal, and its moments of collective joy. A journey through the centuries, to better understand the world and reclaim celebration as a universal language.