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TRINIDAD
& TOBAGO CARNIVAL ACTION It’s here! Trinidad and Tobago’s famed Carnival is a smattering of weeks away and already tens of thousands of revellers the world over have planned their itinerary, paid for costumes and booked flights to participate the island’s legendary street parade. The festival, starting two days before Ash Wednesday is without comparison. Trinis offer to the world a display of creativity, expressed in form of costume, song, dance and design. The creative burst of energy is unique to the island; it’s an energy which entices, some even says seduces and endears the world to witness its masterpiece. While the most visible part of the festival takes place on the streets of Trinidad and Tobago via a series of parades, such a simple classification barely scratches the surface. Carnival is not just a mere parade; it is pure street theatre. On Carnival Monday a pre-dawn procession kicks off the drinking, dancing and wanton jolliness that lasts two days. But before, the people of this island would have spent months in an outpouring of energy and creativity. For some islanders Carnival represents the bane of their existence. They attend to their nine-to-five jobs and then at the end of the day, the real work begins. Leaving their desks and offices for the mas camp or pan yards, they craft their ideas into shape. It is typical for many to go without sleep for days on end. Then there are the fetes that build the festival’s momentum and last into the early morn - eat all you want, drink all you want but the main attraction at these carnival parties is the island’s beautiful women, a mosaic of ethnicities; they flow like nectar from a flower. During festival season Trinidad offers some of the hottest party spots. On Carnival Monday the big trucks roll out. The time has come. Masqueraders stride along the streets, searching for their section, a group of other like- minded revellers, similarly dressed who are ready “play themselves”. The truck leads. The people follow. Carnival Monday is not for the full regalia. Pieces of the costumes are left at home for Tuesday’s offerings. Energies have to be conserved but the people and the visitors are free. At last. And the rhythm of the music becomes their heartbeat, a mantra, as they dance, prance, sashay, and chip along to the heady, exotic, spicy beats This is Destination Carnival. Welcome to it. |
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