the Notting Hill area of London it is the colorful celebration and the biggest

carnival in Europe in this lesson you're going to learn about what happens during

the carnival and the history behind it

food is a big feature of the festival do you know what the most popular foods are

we'll show you the answer at the end of this video the carnival in its current

form was first held in 1966 and runs over three days the August Bank Holiday

Monday and the two days preceding it over 1 million people attend the

festival and the main event a colorful parade winds through 20 miles of London

streets the carnival began as a small-scale local festival arranged by

the West Indian community from those humble beginnings it has evolved into a

full-blooded Caribbean carnival highlights of the weekend include a kids

day with a costume contest and the parade where floats and thousands of

people walk through the streets one of the key features of the carnival is

music steel bands line the streets and play and their music can be heard for

miles there are also displays of other types

of music such as Calypso and soccer and in recent years professional and

international artists have begun to play the carnival in increasing numbers

when the carnival first started it was without approval from the authorities

it wasn't until 1987 that the police began to take a conciliatory approach

with the carnival instead of simply trying to shut it down and now I'll give

you the answer to the earlier quiz food is a big feature of the festival do you

know what the most popular foods are stalls at the festival so many types of

Caribbean food the most popular and famous dishes are jerk chicken curried

goat and rice and peas how was this lesson did you learn something

interesting are there any festivals celebrating a

foreign culture in your country leave us a comment at English class 101.com

and we'll see you in the next lesson