Of Carnival and people....
Starcharger
Thu 13 Aug 2015 13:45
It is hard to describe Carnival, a photograph they say is worth a thousand words but at Carnival the noise and the energy are everything!
We started at 4.30 with J'Ouvert when the Jab Jabs come out dressed in horns. Some have waste oil others paint, which they smear on willing victims...so go in old clothes! Thousands turn up but there is no trouble, everyone is there to have fun and encourage other people to have fun. There were I am sure a few police around but not at all obvious and very few of them.
In the evening I went to the Monday night Mas. where everyone carries lights, neon on this occasion, and the spectacle is incredible. What I don't know how to explain or get across is the noise and energy of the whole thing it is unbelievable.
Pretty Mas. on the Tuesday was as always a beautiful spectacle.
This carnival we partied with six Americans, one Australian and a Brit, where were the rest of the Brits?
Several conversations rolled around the subject of being involved, and it lead me to consider how one really interacts....
Do we party with the locals, or just at the same time as them? Of course it is a bit of both...even at home when one goes to a party one tends to talk to the people one knows but also venture into the unknown, here is the same, for us at least.... We have more Cruising friends than Local friends. But that is partly because we see them in more places and partly because we share a common interest. We do have local friends, Marilyn on St Lucia, but she isn't local she is a Trinidadian girl, Fern on Antigua...but she comes from St Lucia..... You can't win!
One of the roots of Carnival is Emancipation and during J'Ouvert some people carry chains. Another discussion took place over whether it would be wrong for white people to do the same.... It seems to me that we should all celebrate freedom, that slavery although mainly African was not exclusively so and that one should embrace the culture where one is. Others felt we shouldn't impose upon that element.
Any thoughts?
Love Alasdair and Gill
+1758 520 6961
Sent from Alasdair's iPad