For years, the shorter skirts and pruned costumes of the Hart's fun band were viewed as an aberration in Carnival before becoming first the norm and now the standard.The more outrageous dances offered by many of today's masqueraders as well were the result of a loss of craft in presentation, as the elaborate moves of blue devils, bats and firemen were lost to a new generation of masqueraders and the entire point of portraying a costume was harnessed to the imperatives of commerce. These new traditions may be new to the long history of Carnival, but they are deeply entrenched and any alternative presented by the Catholic Church must aspire to being more than simply "holier than thou."The creative traditions of Carnival are rich and remarkable. The presence of Genesis 1-Creation, promoted by Monsignor Gordon as way of returning some of the "true essence" of the festival, should engage some of those dormant creative possibilities as a path back to the heart of the masquerade.