February 17, 2015 -- The last day of Carnaval is the Death of King Carnaval parade. The origins of King Carnaval, and the final parade, are discussed in the following paragraphs from Wikipedia:

The Lenten period of the Liturgical calendar, the six weeks directly before Easter, was marked by fasting and other pious or penitential practices. Traditionally during Lent, no parties or other celebrations were held, and people refrained from eating rich foods, such as meat, dairy, fats and sugar. In the days before Lent, all rich food and drink had to be disposed of. The consumption of this, in a giant party that involved the whole community, is thought to be the origin of Carnival.[7]

While forming an integral part of the Christian calendar, particularly in Catholic regions, many Carnival traditions resemble those that date back to pre-Christian times. The 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. While medieval pageants and festivals such as Corpus Christi were church-sanctioned celebrations, Carnival was also a manifestation of medieval folk culture. Many local Carnival customs are claimed to derive from local pre-Christian rituals, for example, the elaborate rites involving masked figures in the Swabian–Alemannic Fastnacht.

However, there is insufficient evidence to establish a direct origin from Saturnalia or other ancient festivals for Carnival. There are no complete accounts of Saturnalia and the shared features of feasting, role reversals, temporary social equality, the wearing of masks and permitted rule-breaking are rather general features that do not necessarily constitute a coherent festival nor links between festivals.[8] Rather than imagine Carnival as having an essence that might be traced to antiquity based on superficial similarities, a different interpretation of these similarities is that people draw on a reservoir of cultural resources to create new forms with different meanings and functions.

For example, anthropologist Brad Erickson has pointed out the common, often reversed elements of Easter and Carnival, which form the ritual bookends around Lent. 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, followed by a liminal period and ends with his death. Both feasts are calculated by the lunar calendar, and both Jesus and King Carnival may be seen as expiatory figures who make a gift to the people with by the sacrifice of 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 earthly life.[9]