For the first time visitor, the sights that assail your senses can be a bit overwhelming. You feel the ground shake from the vibration of the huge boom boxes hoisted on to trucks that precede each group as they progress along the Carnival route. Your eardrums are assailed by the music generating the vibration and then your eyes fall on the procession itself. You are instantly in love.

For this is Trinidad, where my husband and I unexpectedly found ourselves just as Carnival was reaching its spectacular climax. In Trinidad, Carnival is a huge part of the culture, with young and old taking part in gorgeous costumes, outrageous costumes, colourful costumes, which are at once a delight to the eye and an assault on the eye. There is just so much to see. It is difficult to take it all in.

The Carnival Procession, on Carnival Tuesday, is the culmination of several weeks of revelry. Breakfasts and Fetes (pronounced ‘fets’) are held throughout Trinidad, with the majority in the capital, Port of Spain. A fete is a huge party. Guests usually pay an entrance fee and this entitles them to unlimited food and drink, dancing and live music all evening. Many are used as fundraisers for particular causes and attract big names in the Soca music world. At Queens Hall, for example, just down the road from cricket star Brian Lara’s lavish estate, the highlight was a performance by superstar Shurwayne Winchester who soon had the thousands in the young and energetic audience jumping compulsively. Their red and white bandanas waved frenetically in a colourful sea of movement to the high decibel vibes. Everyone loved Shurwayne. Soca, the name is derived from the first two letters of the words SOul of CAlypso, from which it evolved, is Shurwayne’s forte. He started performing at the age of twelve and to date has released five albums. He has won numerous awards and opened the ICC World Cup Cricket cultural opening ceremony in Trinidad and the closing ceremony in Barbados. This Carnival he was crowned International Groovy Soca Monarch. The Queens Hall event entitled ‘Is Just A Fete,’ benefitted TASA, Trinidad (and Tobago) Arts Support Alliance, a group supporting the best in Caribbean Arts on the islands.

Naughty daredevils

Carnival Monday means J’Ouvert. Literally meaning ‘I Open’ in French, it is the beginning of the culmination of the Carnival celebrations. Joining in J’Ouvert means an early start, just as it does to join in J’Ouvert here on Anguilla. To find a spot opposite the judge’s stage for the Parade of the Bands means a three a.m. wake up for the procession starts way before dawn.
Steel Pan has a long history in Trinidad and Tobago. Originally drumming was used as a means of communication between slave communities. It evolved until, in the 1930’s, it became more recognisable as we know the steel pan today. The Neal and Massy Trinidad All-Stars steel pan band will celebrate its seventy third birthday this year. This band was narrowly beaten, with a margin of just one point, by the Phase 11 Pan Grove Band in the Large Conventional Bands section of the Pan Competition this year. The drums themselves are made from fifty five gallon oil drums and there are thirteen different instruments in the pan family, ranging from sopranos through tenors to bass drums, each with different numbers of pan variations.
J’Ouvert’s other name is ‘Dirty Mas’. People are covered in paint, grease, mud or anything else they can think of. Paint is very popular; buckets of it in some cases. It is not unusual to see revellers smeared in paint or mud as part of their outfits and this they can be very generous with when they see pristinely turn out spectators lining the streets. It is best to go in old clothes! Red emulsion on a favourite t shirt is not fun to try to wash out.
Carnival Tuesday dawns with the huge procession that most visitors think of when they think of Carnival. Ladies large and small in brightly coloured feathers and little else, gentlemen jumping with anyone wanting to feel the beat, loud music beating the rhythm insistently from huge trucks, vibrant colour assailing the eye, steel pan bands being played in well rehearsed unison, an atmosphere full of life and thousands of people thronging the procession route all eager to get into the carnival spirit. Lonely Planet calls Trinidad Carnival ‘the king of all Caribbean Carnival’ and it is easy to see why.
The procession starts early in the morning and goes on well into the darkness of the night. Some bands have thousands of revellers and are famous on island. The Trini Revellers for example, although they scaled down the numbers involved this year from seven thousand last year to a more manageable two thousand, nine hundred for this year, still presented a fantastic display entitled ‘Que Viva Mexico.’
In all we came away from Trinidad’s Carnival with our heads in a whirl. So much money is spent on the event; banks offer Carnival Loans. Imaginations can be allowed full rein and themes are imaginative and expansive. Visitors from all over the world come to join in and the event is extensively covered on television. We were very glad we had the opportunity to experience it.

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