The Carnival of the Animals and xylophone. From the beginning, Saint-Saëns regarded the work as a piece of fun. On 9 February 1886 he wrote to his publishers Durand in Paris that he was composing a work for the coming Shrove Tuesday, and confessing that he knew he should be working on his Third Symphony, but that this work was "such fun" (). He had apparently intended to write the work for his students at the École Niedermeyer, but it was first performed at a private concert given by the cellist Charles Lebouc on Shrove Tuesday, 9 March 1886. A second (private) performance was given
Carnival of Huejotzingo “huehue” (meaning old person) dancers also exists. Festivities are daytime, beginning in the morning, with a break for a main meal in the mid afternoon and then continuing until nightfall. There are pre Hispanic elements to this carnival, including the mock battles which have been compared to the “flower wars” of the Aztecs. Carnival coincides with the time that the pre Hispanic inhabitants of Huejotzingo petitioned the gods for fertility of the lands and for abundant rainfall. The carnival is led by a “General en Jefe de las Fuerzas o Ejercicios Carnavalesco” who is in charge of leading all four