Trinidad Carnival
Carnival in the Caribbean is an explosion of joy, exuberance in every sense of the word - in its outrageous dress and decoration, its (often saucy) dancing and its deafening music. Carnivals can take place at key moments in the Caribbean calendar, like the anniversary of emancipation or the end of sugar cane harvest, but many, like Trinidad’s, are held in line with carnival’s original religious heritage, at the beginning of Lent.
A Year's Worth of Preparation
Carnival preparations take place throughout the year, but as countdown begins in January the Kings and Queens of the Band (huge mannequins) are built and the costumes for the street parades are sewn to get them ready for ‘sale’ (participants buy a costume to join a band). On the weekend before Mardi Gras there are competitions and ‘fetes’ (Trinidadian parties). The street parades take place on the Monday and Tuesday, Lundi and Mardi Gras.
Ole time mas
This is a moko-jumbie, a character from Caribbean folklore. These stilt walkers can be seen all year round, but they have a special place at carnival. Other traditional characters can also be seen, including bats, clowns, Dame Lorraine (often men dressed in fancy women’s clothes) and burrokeets, a sort of pantomime donkey (from burro, Spanish for donkey) of very colourful material. An ‘Ole Time Mas’ parade is held on the Friday just before Carnival Weekend.
Traditional Bands
Sometimes whole carnival bands will dress up in traditional costumes. Here are two favourite themes. ‘Fancy Indians’ are the most elaborate form of North American Indians and they often have whole head-dresses of feathers. Also there are Sailor bands, which dress in imitation of the British and American sailors that visited the island in their warships. The costumes are certainly a liberal interpretation of the original naval uniform…
Junior Carnival
A Junior Carnival parade is held on the Saturday of carnival weekend. Children have their own bands and parade through the streets in much the same way as adults. These boys are dressed as ‘djab-djabs’ or little devils (from diable, the French for devil), another of the traditional characters of carnival.
Steel Pan
Trinidad is the home of steel band music and on the Saturday night of the carnival weekend is the final of the national steel band competition, Panorama. Steel bands can be fifty or more players strong. Famous steel bands include the Renegades, the Desperadoes, the North Stars and the Cavaliers.
Steel Band
While most carnival music is electric, the steel bands will load up onto lorries and process through the streets on carnival Monday night. From about midnight, they head for St James (a district of Port of Spain), where crowds follow their favourite bands through the streets.
King and Queen of the Bands
The centrepieces of each carnival band are the King and the Queen of the Bands. These mannequins stand as much as 30 feet high and they are propelled around the podium to music by a single person. On the Sunday night each carnival band presents its King of the Band and Queen of the Band for judging.
J'Ouvert
After the competitions on the Sunday night the revellers spill onto the street for the informal procession at J’Ouvert (pronounced Joovay, from the French ‘Jour Ouvert’). There is a very simple, standard step to Caribbean carnival dancing, the ‘chip’, an energy-efficient, flex-kneed shuffle. The music that drives the dancing is soca (from soul-calypso), a compelling rhythm that also originates in Trinidad.
J'Ouvert continues...
At J’Ouvert revellers dress themselves in old clothes and then smear themselves in anything from food dye or chocolate spread to paint and engine oil – anything coloured or dirty. If you go to watch, expect to be covered in it too. J’Ouvert continues till dawn and beyond.
Carnival Procession
The high point of carnival is the street parades, which take place on Carnival Monday (Lundi Gras) from midday and Tuesday (Mardi Gras) from 9am until about 6pm. Bands follow one another on a circuit around Port of Spain, passing in front of a number of judging podiums. There they are judged for colour and energy.
Playing Mas - Joining a Carnival Band
Unlike many carnivals, at which the bands are closed societies, in the Caribbean it is usually possible to ‘play mas’ as a visitor. You simply go to the band’s ‘mas camp’ and buy the costume, which entitles you to join in the street parade. The carnival band provides music to keep up the rhythm and drinks’ trolleys to keep you hydrated (and plied with beer and rum too).
Las' Lap
Carnival may have its religious origins in abstention (carne-vale is literally a ‘farewell to meat’), but in the Caribbean the emphasis is on celebration, the ‘Mas’ (of the ‘masquerade’). After ‘Las Lap’, a final series of fetes on the carnival Tuesday, Mardi Gras evening, the festivities end on the dot of midnight. It’s not long though, before they start thinking about next year…
