If you’re new to Trinidad Carnival, know that most everything you’ve heard about it is true. Yes, it’s the mother of West Indian-style carnivals throughout the Americas. Yes, people dance and party in the streets for two days straight. And yes, love it or hate it, it is a uniquely Trinidadian experience you are unlikely to forget.
 

In Context

A unique interaction between Africa and Europe gave birth to Trinidad Carnival. It dates back to the arrival of French Catholic planters (1789), who carried the tradition of European carnival. Elaborate masked balls were staged by these planters (and free coloureds) at Christmas and as a last fling before Lent. The enslaved Africans brought their own masking traditions, and held festivities around the burning and harvesting of the sugar cane (Canboulay). And in the rituals of each, masking and mimicry were an integral part.

After Emancipation in 1838, Canboulay became a symbol of freedom and defiance. Worried, the British colonial government tried to ban drumming, stickfighting, masquerading, even the steelpan, but was never able to overcome the resistance of the people.

In the last 100 years, formal competitions and committees have changed the character of the festival, but have enabled it to evolve into one of international stature, and the signature event on Trinidad’s cultural calendar.

Carnival speak

• Calypso: indigenous Trinidadian music with roots in West African songs of praise and mockery, strongly influenced by calinda (stickfighting) chants and lavways that chantouelles sang to lead Carnival bands. Originally sung in patois (a local French derivative)
• Canboulay Riots: significant uprising in 1881 against the British governor who attempted to ban the Carnival arts
• Limbo: sacred folk dance indigenous to Trinidad, once performed at wakes in African communities; the lower the dancer could go, the higher the spirit of the dead could ascend
• Ole mas: traditional Carnival characters like the ominous Midnight Robber, talkative Pierrot Granade, and gender-bending Dames Lorraines; best viewed at traditional character parades and Viey La Cou (two Sundays before Carnival)
• Playing mas: masquerading, usually in costume with a band (up to US$700 “all-inclusive”). Some bands sell out from September, but returns can be grabbed last minute. Of course, you can make your own costume (or band) – and don’t need a costume to band-hop
• Pretty mas: mass-produced costumes, usually skimpy bikinis, feathers, and beads
• Road March: song played most often by bands at judging points
• Soca: fast-paced, high-energy offspring of calypso, pioneered by Ras Shorty I (Garfield Blackman) in the 70s, fusing African and Indian sounds. Trinidad’s pop music, it has absorbed R&B, dancehall, hip-hop, reggaeton, house music and other influences
• Steelpan: developed in Laventille communities in the 1930s, the only non-electrical instrument invented in the 20th century. Began as single “ping pongs” hung around the neck playing just a few notes, now covering full western scale in bands topping 100 players
  
  

The Season

The Carnival season typically starts the day after Christmas, though several major bands launch their presentations as early as July and August. It’s no wonder, then, Trinidadians are accused of having a “Carnival mentality”.

After Christmas, Carnival parties (or fêtes) featuring the biggest soca stars begin in earnest. The radio and television airwaves are dominated by the latest soca, calypso and pan tunes. Droves of would-be masqueraders hit the gym and the Queen’s Park Savannah to train.

Contestants for countless Carnival competitions hone their crafts. Limboists limber up in folk performing groups. Stickfighters refine their footwork in gayelles nationwide. In panyards, bands of up to 100 pannists rehearse. Mas camps pulse with the energy of designers and volunteers assembling costumes. Calypsonians sharpen their barbs for fans at calypso tents.

Carnival Weekend

In the wee hours of “Fantastic Friday” morning, there is a re-enactment of the Canboulay Riots, and later a parade of traditional carnival characters in Port of Spain. Once night falls, soca stars gear up for the International Soca Monarch competition.

Carnival Saturday hosts the Kiddies Carnival, and the battle for pan supremacy in the Panorama finals. 

On Sunday night at the Dimanche Gras show, the best calypsonians compete for the Calypso Monarch title, and would-be Carnival Kings and Queens showcase magnificent costumes.

Monday & Tuesday

From 4am Monday morning, scores of people chip and slither through the streets of the country’s cities, covered in paint, grease and mud. This is J’ouvert, with traditional Carnival characters like jab jabs, blue devils, and bats, alongside those in outrageous costumes – or just old clothes. Once the sun comes up, most stagger into bed to sleep off the high (natural or induced).

Around 11am the action picks up again as thousands flock into Port of Spain to meet their band (or the one they intend to crash). Almost no one is in full costume, though – the joy is in just being in the streets, with music and merriment continuing well after dark.

Tuesday starts early, and bands typically dance along specific routes between judging posts, where adjudicators choose the next Band of the Year.

Some with less energy crash at sundown, but others keep following the huge music trucks until Last Lap. It is only then, or perhaps on the beach the next day (a post-Carnival tradition), that you can finally permit sleep to come.  

Schedules & information

• National Carnival Bands Association: 628-3143
• National Carnival Commission: 627-1357
• Pan Trinbago: 623-4486
• Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisations: 623-9660