Granville Carnival

Granville Carnival grew from the Terre-Neuvas fishing tradition of one last celebration before Newfoundland cod expeditions, with its first organized edition in 1875. In 2016 it became the only French carnival on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Around 2,500 volunteer carnivalists spend six months building roughly 40 satirical floats, and the event closes with a night of intrigues and the ceremonial cremation of King Carnival in the port, drawing about 100,000 spectators annually.

Granville Carnival grew out of the same maritime send-off tradition found in several Norman fishing ports: in the late nineteenth century, the town's Terre-Neuvas, fishermen bound for months-long cod expeditions off Newfoundland, held one final major celebration on land before departing around Mardi Gras, with the first formally organized edition dated to February 7, 1875.