pre-Lenten Carnival for many centuries. The general jollification was probably the Carnival of 1560 when a massed Christian armada was harbour-bound in Malta before sailing to Tripoli. By the Middle of the 18th Century Carnival in Valletta was in its heyday. From 1751 onwards a rival Carnival attraction took place in Floriana a few weeks before Carnival proper and it too involved a defile of masks and carriages. The Order encouraged the craze by staging extra Carnivals called "Mad Carnivals" for special occasions