Posted on 21 March 2011.
By EDITOR
Photos courtesy of Jamal Smith
The word Carnival might stir a number of sensations and emotions within the person who has participated in its crazy and awe-inspiring splendor, while those who have not experienced it are probably wildly jealous of those aforementioned people.
But for all the popularity surrounding it, many of the above bacchanalers, winers or road-chippers nor the green-with-envy future carnival pilgrims, know what its origins are.
Carnival owes its existence to a variety of people and cultures that fell into the melting pot of individuals we see participating its events today.
When people of the world hear of carnival they may think of both Brazil and the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).
And while both countries celebrate this festival during the same time, culminating on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of the Catholic season of Lent, we will focus on the Carnival in T&T.
T&T’s carnival season begins Boxing Day, the 26th of December, and the fetes (parties for the T&T vernacular newbie) go straight through into Ash Wednesday.
That is why just about any person in the Caribbean or of Caribbean descent, anywhere across the world, will suggest you put T&T’s carnival on your bucket list.
Trinbagonians (the natives you will fete with) can trace their ancestries to just about anywhere in the world. And it is very important to understand where these people came from in order to explain why Carnival in T&T is revered the way it is.
Its people are the mirror reflection of the global color wheel and cosmopolitan passion that is displayed during the carnival season.
T&T carnival’s development is owed to several factors, including the celebration of wild costume parties pre-Ash Wednesday and masquerade balls that originate from European customs.
The use of feathers, beads and other natural objects and the use of drums and the ubiquitous parade through the streets, one of the greatest spectacles of Carnival, are all of African descent.
As the festival evolved over the past century, the influences of T&T Indians, Chinese, and even its original inhabitants, among other races, have been preserved and still contribute to carnival’s evolution through band names, music and by their general participation. They exemplify the mixture of Trinbago and by extension, the entire Caribbean.
Over the decades Carnival itself has been tweaked and fine-tuned into an art and true expression of cultural unity.
The music, though, is the paramount aspect of the culture.
In the early days, the carnival consisted more of drum beating and the playing of native songs, while the Europeans had their waltzes and polkas.
As the 20th century rolled in, and the contemporary soca kings and queens were hitting puberty, Carnival discovered several winning combinations.
With the development of the steel pan instrument and the musical genre Calypso, Carnival began evolving. And now Calypso has mutated into Soca and Chutney-soca, which have become the primary causes of ‘the wine’.
The wine is the clinical term for the gyration of the hips, and is an affliction of any true trinbagonian who, upon hearing these genres of music have an impulsive urge to move the legs forwards while shaking the hips back and forth and left to right.
The best way to celebrate Carnival is to be in T&T from the beginning of December until the weekend after Ash Wednesday.
However, if you are like most people and your mean boss only gave you two weeks of vacation, that’s ample time to glean the true spirit of T&T’s Carnival.
One should begin the pilgrimage in the land of liming and feting by engaging in Bacchanal Wednesday, which happens one week before Ash Wednesday. This is when fetes abound across the island.
The carnival weekend then begins on Sunday with the Dimanche Gras, where the King and Queen of Carnival are chosen and which continues straight into J’ouvert – the party portal to CARNIVAL.
At the eye-reddening hour of four a.m., J’ouvert will cause the streets of any of the major cities like San Fernando, Port of Spain or Chaguanas to fill with revelers who cover their bodies in mud, paint and/or oil.
J’ouvert then segues into the street party of the parade of bands where soca and alcohol-fired bodies follow trucks of performers and DJ’s down the road.
Tuesday wrangles in the main event where the true spectacle of Carnival emerges. People unabashedly jump-up, wine and party in the streets donning their carnival costumes, all the while following trucks of music blasting their favorite carnival tunes.
At midnight, however, all bands and costumed revelers stop their celebrations in respect of the beginning of Lent, with the dawn of Ash Wednesday. If devout Catholics are intermingled with the carnival crowd, they can attend one of the many churches to get their Ashes.
If your religion is feting, well you may just want to continue your liming – you won’t be alone.
As Ash Wednesday matures, people begin to migrate to either Maracas Bay, Manzanilla Beach or Mayaro Beach, where they relax their calloused feet and worn waist cartilage, and soak up the sun.
During this time, many individuals travel to the sister island of Tobago to enjoy the more tourist oriented of the islands.
While this (verbose) excerpt is just a condensed version of what the true experience of T&T’s carnival is, next year we’ll return to see if we can top the previous year’s experience.
A Trinbago Carnival is not a stroll, it is a marathon, especially if you want to experience it in its entirety.
In your Carnival survival kit should exist loads of hydrating liquids and a whole heap of stamina. So stay tuned.
Follow Us!