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Carnival (Maltese: il-Karnival ta' Malta) has had an important place on the Maltese cultural calendar for just under five centuries, having been introduced to the Islands by Grand Master Piero de Ponte in 1535. It is held during the week leading up to Ash Wednesday, and typically includes masked balls, fancy dress and grotesque mask competitions, lavish late-night parties, a colourful, ticker-tape parade of allegorical floats presided over by King Carnival (Maltese: ir-Re tal-Karnival), marching bands and costumed revellers.
Carnival has been celebrated in Malta since the 15th century, but it received a major boost in 1535, five years after the arrival of the Order of St John. This started taking place officially in Birgu where a number of knights played games and displayed their skills in various pageants and tournaments.
In 1560, Grand Master Jean Parisot de La Valette too, felt he had to reprimand his knights for going overboard with their festivities. He had allowed the wearing of masks in public (which was forbidden in Malta for the rest of the year) and this made the celebrations more fun. The knights decorated the ships of the Order's fleet in harbour and there was song, dance and revelry never seen in Malta before. But La Valette was not amused at the number of people wearing masks who had been invited to celebrate Carnival aboard the vessels held up in Grand Harbour by unfavourable weather conditions.
Carnival parades during the British period, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries, were noted for their biting satirical themes, and many of the intricate floats were designed to poke fun at political figures and unpopular government decisions; however, political satire was essentially banned as a result of a law passed in 1936.-Wikipedia