The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is celebrated two days before Ash Wednesday.
Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago is the event of the year. It is said that if the islanders are not celebrating it, then they are preparing for it, while reminiscing about the past year's festival. The heart of the musical celebration has been calypso. Recently, soca has replaced calypso as the most celebrated type of music.
Trinidad Carnival has been copied by many of the islands in the West Indies: most notably Barbados crop over, St. Vincent, and Antigua carnivals. Calypso, soca, steelpan, the costumes, the competitions (such as Panorama, Calypso Monarch, King and Queen of the bands, J'ouvert and roadmarch king), were all pioneered by Trinidad and Tobago carnival and copied throughout the Caribbean. Toronto Caribana, London's Notting Hill Carnival, Labour Day (United States) and Miami carnival also have their roots in Trinidad carnival.
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History
Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago originally had its roots in both West African festivals and French Catholic carnival celebrations, where masks were donned and social visits ensued. When the use of drums and religious practices were prohibited, slaves (and then former slaves) found novel ways to pass on their cultural heritage.
Carnival then grew with African influences from the slaves who added singing, dancing, and music to transform Carnival into what we see today. Carnival is celebrated two days before Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. In the earliest times, similar celebrations were held at the end of crops being harvested, hence the Crop Over celebrations in some other Caribbean islands.
However, as harvest festivals were reduced, the festival time became co-terminous with French colonists' celebration, the pre-Lenten festival tied to the Roman Catholic carne vale (farewell to the flesh), in preparation for fasting and religious disciplines of Lent.
Carnival Dates
The table shows a list of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival dates from 2009 to 2015. [1]
| Calendar Year | Carnival Monday | Carnival Tuesday |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | February 23 | February 24 |
| 2010 | February 15 | February 16 |
| 2011 | March 7 | March 8 |
| 2012 | February 20 | February 21 |
| 2013 | February 11 | February 12 |
| 2014 | March 3 | March 4 |
| 2015 | February 16 | February 17 |
Competitions
Today musical competitions make up a large part of formal Carnival; groups compete hard to win. To be named Calypso Monarch is one of the island's greatest honors, and the competition is aired on television. Along with the honor comes an enormous trophy, a car, TT $500,000 (approx. US $80,908.95) and possible endorsements and other contracts. Other prestigious titles are Soca Monarch, Carnival Road March and Panorama Champions. For the latter, the 2007 prize was TT $1 million (US $161,817.91).
Traditionally, musicians use drums, claves, and the steelpan, a drum that has been hammered down in different areas to create different notes. A group of performers practice weeks in advance on these drums to compete. Trinidad and Tobago is multicultural (African, Asian (south and east), European), and all of its groups have contributed musical influences to that of Carnival. Spanish influences are reflected by immigrants from Venezuela. These cultures have combined to create a music vastly different from that of Carnival in Spain, Venice, or New Orleans.
Costumes
As with other Carnivals, many participants wear elaborate costumes, often decorated with feathers and sequins. Carnival "bands" are organized groups made up of participants who pay for costumes fashioned by a designer and assembled by teams of volunteers. The costumed participants dance through the streets to the sounds of a steel band, a soca band or a d.j. - this is called "playing mas'". A unique feature of this parade is that locals and tourists alike participate in the parade of bands. Each band is led by a King and Queen, who wear extremely large costumes, often requiring extensions and wheels to assist the masquerader to carry it through the streets. Each year on Dimanche Gras (Carnival Sunday), a competition is held to award the King and Queen of Carnival title to two of these masqueraders.
On Carnival Monday and Tuesday, the bands are in competition to win the Band of the Year title. Small monetary prizes are associated with these titles, though they do not cover the full amount of producing the band's music or the King's or Queen's costumes. Participation occurs at all levels of society; three-time calypso monarch David Rudder described it as "from bourgeois to grassroots." Children participate from as early as parents can get them into costume; sometime even strollers are decorated.
Children can extend their fun by participating in smaller "Kiddies Carnival" shows, competitions and parades as early as 4 weeks before the culmination of the festival. For weeks ahead, several preliminary rounds of competitions and parties (or fêtes) take place. As Carnival is part of the national curriculum, several programs take place at schools across the country. Regional authorities handle smaller carnival celebrations in smaller towns and villages.
Bands
Band leaders and designers begin working on their presentations months in advance. They usually hold a launch party 3-5 months before Carnival to showcase their costumes. Costumes are available for purchase at the mas camp. Some camps offer costumes for sale online as well.
Some popular Carnival bands include:
- Tribe
- Harts Carnival (also known as Young Harts)
- Masquerade
- Peter Minshall's Callaloo Company
- Island People
- Trevor Wallace
- Trini Revellers
- Legacy
- Genesis
- Pulse 8
- Dream Team
- Mas Jumbies
- Wayne Berkley
- Evolution
- Brian McFarlane
Characters
A few specific characters have evolved during the history of Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival. Among these characters are:
Pierrot Grenade - he gives speeches on issues of the day, all in rhyme
Minstrels - black musicians acting as wandering minstrels, wearing white facepaint
Midnight Robber - his grandiose bragging is known as "robber talk," a style which evolved from African Griot storytellers
Jab Jab - The name of this mas is derived from the French patois for 'Diable Diable". It is pretty devil mas. The costume consists of a Kandal or satin knickers, and satin shirt with points of cloth at the waist, from which bells hang. On the chest, there is a shaped cloth panel which is decorated with swansdown, rhinestones and mirrors. Stockings and alpagatas are worn on the feet, while the headress consists of a hood with stuffed cloth horns. The costume can come in alternating colours and be divided into front and back panels. The Jab Jab has a thick whip of plaited hemp which he swings and cracks threateningly. These whips can reduce the costumes of other Jab Jabs to threads.It is not to be confused with Jab Molassie.
JAB MOLASSIE Jab is the French patois for 'Diable' (Devil), and Molassie is the French patois for Mélasse (Molasses). The Jab Molassie is one of several varieties of devil mas played in Trinidad and Tobago carnival. The costume consists of short pants or pants cut off at the knee, and a mask and horns. The jab malassie would carry chains, and wear locks and keys around his waist, and carry a pitch fork. He may smear his body with grease, tar, mud or coloured dyes (red, green or blue). The jab molassie "wines" or gyrates to a rhythmic beat that is played on tins or pans by his imps. While some of his imps supply the music, others hold his chain, seemingly restraining him as he pulls against them in his wild dance.
The differences among the various forms of devil mas were once distinct, but have become blurred over time.
Dame Lorraine - an amply blessed woman dressed as an 18th century French aristocrat
References
See also
External links
- Official Trinidad and Tobago Tourism Site - www.gotrinidadandtobago.com
- Calendar of Events at the Trinidad Tourism Site
- National Carnival Commission Official Website
- History and Carnival Information at the National Library
- Trinidad and Tobago Carnival at the Open Directory Project
- Find costumes for Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2010
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