It’s that time of year. When most of us are recovering from the excesses of the festive break, West Indians are only just beginning their celebrations and preparing in earnest for the Caribbean’s peak party season.
Everyone loves an excuse to celebrate – and West Indians have turned this into an art form. This is the corner of the world to come if you want to dance until dawn, join in extravagant and exuberant street carnivals or simply watch the spectacle from the sidelines. Either way, it will be an experience you will not forget in a hurry.
Caribbean islanders are avid party-animals and music and dance is their lifeblood and, in many cases, a reminder of their African roots. Carnival itself is a mixture of the Catholic celebration, which runs from December 26 until Lent, and African music and dance traditions of parading in costumes and masks. For the islanders, carnival is a way of expressing their cultural rites.
The biggest month of the year is February. This is carnival month, when many islands, such as Dominica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Barths and St Maarten, stage their biggest extravaganzas of the calendar.
The biggest – and the best – is Trinidad Carnival, which ranks on a par with the legendary festivities in Rio, and is billed as the Mother of all Carnivals. Thousands upon thousands of elaborately-costumed dancers wearing huge exotic head-dresses of sequins, beads and feathers dance through the streets, following trucks stacked high with massive speakers booming out music.
Trinidad is where the famous steel drum takes pride of place – because it’s here, in the pan-yards of Port of Spain, that the drum was first made after the Second World War from discarded oil drums and biscuit tins.
But after days of riotous revelries, when Trinidadians or “Trinis” have had their fill, it doesn’t mean that the party is over.
Other celebrations follow throughout the year on other islands with carnivals sometimes held during the summer months so tourists can get involved. For instance, the US Virgin Islands wait longer for their carnival, which doesn’t kick off until April, while St Lucian’s hold their festivities in June and July.
In fact with music festivals, regattas, concerts and sporting fixtures thrown in, you could easily spend the year island-hopping your way from one Caribbean event to another.
