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Caribbean Tips On Carnival Schedules
When is Carnival?
Some of the biggest Carnivals are before Lent. Alphabetically and not
according to size are Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique,
Montserrat, St. Bart's, St. Martin and Trinidad.
Waiting until July and early August are the BVIs, St. Lucia, Anguilla,
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis,
St. Eustatius, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tobago.
For a list of Caribbean Carnivals with links to their web sites, log
on to http://www.tntisland.com/other-carnivals.html. (They're the biggest,
so they can afford to be generous.)
Here are some samples of the major Carnivals, including islands not listed
above.
Trinidad
Without question, Trinidad hosts the Caribbean 's biggest and most colorful
bash. It's also probably the best organized and most spectator friendly.
You can even buy youre own costume and take part in the parade.
Overall, you'll hear better music here, particularly steel band, than
anywhere else. The massive parade takes a full day to pass through Queen's
Park Savannah and the review stands there. Lasting for almost two weeks,
the main events occur just two days before Ash Wednesday.
The costumes (like the women) are sometimes
exotic but always tasteful. This is a very family-friendly affair, not
like the beer belching and retching of New Orleans' Mardi Gras.
Trinidad is still classy.
Aruba
Also held before Lent, I prefer the children's Carnival over the adults
that's held the same day. The kid's Carnival is during the afternoon when
you can easily see everything. As a photographer, night Carnivals don't
thrill me. Not only is the lighting poor, they can drink, I can't.
Dominican Republic
Most large towns hold their own Carnival on a weekend in February or
March. Many costumes feature papier-mache devil masks with many horns
and teeth and grotesque human expressions. Silk capes, matching jerkins
and pantaloons are round out the devil motiff. The most colorful parades
are in Santiago and La Vega.
St. Maarten
This 2-week celebration on the Dutch side at the end of April marks the
anniversary of the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands,
which falls on April 30. The parade is usually held in the afternoon.
This Carnival is a bargain since it's held after high-season hotel prices
have dropped.
Read details about St. Maarten's Carnival.
Barbados
It's called Crop Over here, dating to the 1780s when Barbados was the
world's largest sugar producer. The celebration honors the harvest, the
time when the crop was over. The festival, lasting for 5 weeks, presents
the harvest's last sugarcanes to the King and Queen, the best male and
female cane cutters. The carnival parade, or Grand Kadooment, is set to
calypso music. Calypso bands vie for various titles including the ingeniously
named Pic-O-De-Crop.
Tortola
Begun in 1954 as the August Festival, the name was changed to the Emancipation
Festival to celebrate the freeing of slaves on August 1, 1834. Although
held for many days, the most important period centers on August Monday,
the closest to August 1st.
The day before Monday's big parade, a religious service features a short
historical overview and drama, reenactment of the singing and a reading
of the Emancipation Proclamation by the governor or government minister
at the Sunday Well, where it was originally proclaimed. J'ouvert is held
Monday morning, followed by the mid-afternoon parade.
Bahamas
Called Junkanoo, the big parade is held in two phases, the day after
Christmas (Boxing Day) and January 1. Music is supplied by cow- and goatskin
drums, cowbells and whistles. The instruments may be basic but the sound
is overwhelming. Costumes have graduated from such common items as palm
leaves and newspapers to ones that equal those of any island anywhere.
There's a Carnival to celebrate everyone's schedule and tastes.
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