St Barthélemy / Special Interests / Carnivals & Festivals

Expect a Gallic flavour to events in St Barths. The island has its own French-style Carnival, but it is small compared with other islands. However, there are celebrations for that most French of commemorations, Bastille Day, along with music and film festivals.

Carnival - Carnival in St Barths is small but in typical French Caribbean style, with street parades culminating on Mercredi des Cendres (Ash Wednesday). Most of the festivities and parades take place in Gustavia, where the proceedings start with the schoolchildren’s parades a week before the main event. 

The main parades are held on Mardi Gras and Mercredi des Cendres. Costumed revellers dance through the streets to accompanying bands, blowing whistles and thumping drums. Where the carnivals in the British Caribbean tend to stop at midnight on Mardi Gras, in the French Caribbean they continue into Mercredi des Cendres. On this final day of celebrations, the revellers dress in costumes of black and white. Vaval, the spirit of French Caribbean Carnival, is taken in a procession of revellers to a seaside location where he is burned (hence the “Ash” in Ash Wednesday), to be banished for another year.

St Barths Music Festival - A showcase for jazz, classical and chamber music, opera and ballet, held in January, with an impressive cast of musicians, some of whom come from major orchestras and dance companies around the world.

16th St Barth Film Festival - This celebration of Caribbean filmmaking takes place in April with screening of films from around the region, in many languages. Some screenings are on the beach.

Fête de la Musique - The annual music festival takes place each June in the capital Gustavia on the Summer Solstice. 

During July and August there’s a celebration most weekends in villages across the island which are free for all. Boat races, fishing competitions, lotteries for cars and computers, live music, DJs, local French dancing, Creole food and fireworks are all on the agenda. Families are welcome and kids have a ball.

Fête in Anse des Cayes (July 16-17) has games, tournaments and various activities organised by the neighbourhood of Anse des Cayes. Head to Flamands at the end of July (30-31) for the Northern Neighbourhood Fête with theatre, dance, raffle and live music on the beach. Come to Corossol on August 25 when this sleepy hamlet comes alive with the Fête of St Louis. The Windward Island Fête from Aug 6-7 has fishing tournaments, regattas, volleyball on the beach in Lorient and live bands at AJOE.

Contributors: James Henderson (original author)