(picture credit: TripSavvy)
With an explosion of colours, pulsating music, massive masquerade bands, spectacular costumes and the high partying stamina, Trinidad and Tobago’s carnival is one of the greatest shows on Earth. It is an annual event held on Monday and Tuesday of Ash (the start of the Christian season of Lent) weekend.
The carnival is the most significant event on the island nation’s cultural calendar the street parade being the highlight. It is said that if islanders are not celebrating it, they are preparing for it while reminiscing about past years’ festivals. Traditionally, the festival is associated with calypso music, part of the heritage of African workers forcibly brought by the British and French colonialists to the Caribbean to work on their sugar plantations. However, of late soca music has begun to replace calypso as the most celebrated music on the island. Costumes, stick fighting and limbo competition are also important components of the festival.
J’Ouvert
(picture credit: Loop News)
Each year at 4 am on Ash Monday, the Carnival begins under a cloak of darkness. Fuelled by exhilaration and the energetic rhythms of soca, revellers take to the streets for the pre-dawn party of J’Ouvert, (from the French ‘jour ouvert’ or ‘open day’) is almost ritualistic in its celebration of the darker elements of the island’s folklore and history. Bathed in chocolate, mud, oil and paint, bands of revellers depict devils, demons, monsters and imps. Carnival guests can choose the medium of expression – J’Ouvert is a time for losing inhibitions.
Carnival Monday
(picture credit: event-carnival.com)
Come daytime, the J’Ouvert revelry clears and massive costumed bands of ‘Pretty Mas’ players flood the street with riotous colours. A cast of thousands of players takes to the street jumping up to the sound of soca blaring from speakers piled on music trucks. The excitement is at fever pitch, but Carnival Monday is just a warm-up for Carnival Tuesday.
Carnival Tuesday
(picture credit: Weebly)
Carnival Tuesday begins at 8 a.m. Thousands of masqueraders are in full costume, ready and impatiently awaiting their chance to come up in front of the television cameras as bands cross the main judging points. Each band has its own historical, mythological or tropical concept with various sections depicting aspects of the main theme. Bands are judged in three categories: small, medium and large and winners are announced after all the bands have crossed the stage. The Champion Band is crowned Masquerade Band of the Year.
Origin of the carnival
Just like the mix of people and cultures that have shaped the nation, Trinidad& Tobago’s Carnival has many influences. The Spanish and English colonial powers, French planters, African slaves, Indian indentured workers brought after the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, and the many other ethnic groups that settled here have all left an indelible mark on the festival. In 1783, the French brought their culture, customs and Carnival, in the form of elaborate masquerade balls, to the country along with thousands of African slaves.
For both the French and British colonial powers, the period between Christmas and the start of Lent was usually the time for feasting, fancy dress balls and celebrations. Banned from these festivities, the slaves in the barrack yards would hold their celebrations mimicking their masters while incorporating rituals and folklore. Once slavery was abolished in 1838, the freed Africans took their Carnival to the streets and, as each new immigrant population entered T&T, a new flavour was added to the festivities. Today, the diverse culture has influenced the music, fueling traditions of Carnival.
Termed as the wildest street carnival in the world, it is one festival that cannot be missed. During these two days, the country comes alive with music, dance and a lot of energy. Located in the Caribbean with turquoise water and warm sun engulfing you, whoever attends this carnival keeps coming back every year for more.
Dates: February 24-25
