defestival1-4, Exercise 2: "German carnival is an ancient pagan survival"

Model answer (check the sources named):

1. Who says it? Popular books, some guides and local tourist material; in the 1800s, folklorists seeking pre-Christian roots.
2. Evidence? Mostly resemblance: masks, noise, driving out winter. Direct documents linking carnival to a pre-Christian rite are lacking. Records of pre-Lent revelry and fools' feasts in the Middle Ages exist.
3. When? The earliest sources for carnival-like events are medieval; the organised Rhenish form dates from the 1800s (Cologne 1823).
4. Definition? "Ancient" could mean medieval or pre-Christian; "survival" implies an unbroken custom, which would have to be shown.
5. Who gains? Tourist boards and writers who like a mysterious origin; also writers in earlier centuries who wanted a national pre-Christian past.
6. What would change my mind? A dated source that describes a pre-Christian rite and a chain of later evidence linking it to the carnival practices of a particular place.

Careful sentence: "Pre-Lent revelry is recorded in the Middle Ages and tied to the church calendar, the modern organised forms are largely from the 1800s, and a direct pagan origin is claimed but not shown."