The Caribbean Islands carnival is a big feast for everyone as Caribbeans have a rich carnival culture with religious influences and African rhythms. With vibrant and colorful carnival costumes, floats, musical competitions, delicious food, and drinks the whole atmosphere turns into one big party scene. The carnival celebration is a great way to break the fast known as Lent. Once this period is over people get excited, soak into the party atmosphere, and enjoy the carnival. They forget connecting with daily stuff that they do and take a break to enjoy the carnival. The ‘Mardi Gras’ day is the day when Lent Catholics bid farewell to meat. Then this fast is broken during Ash Wednesday as the Carnival starts.
The carnivals are held in different seasons across the Caribbean. Some Islands prefer to hold the Carnival after the Ash Wednesday whereas other Islands prefer to hold it after Easter. A few Islands have the carnival during the summer season. However, for the people it hardly matters as to which season the carnival is held in, because they only like to enjoy and party hard during the carnival period. The main idea across the Caribbean islands is to have great fun during the carnival period.
The Caribbean Islands Carnival
The actual preparation process for the Carnival starts well in advance. At some places, the planning for next year’s carnival starts soon after that year’s carnival is over. For others the planning usually starts 6 months before the carnival period. The first step is to select the theme based on the culture of that Caribbean Island and then plan the carnival costumes, float, and music according to this theme. During the time of carnival in the Caribbean Islands events like King and Queen Contests, Parades, Music competition, and Concerts are held. There are prizes given out to the best float, carnival costume, and King of Calypso. The Carnivals become extremely interesting due to stiff competition and each group tries to present its best performance in front of the audiences.
The Jamaican carnival is a spring event held at places like Kingston, OchoRio, and MoBay. The first Jamaican carnival started in this Island in the 1990’s. The Island of St.Kitt’s starts its carnival celebration 10 days after Christmas. The main attraction of the parade is calypso monarch competitions, great music from the steel bands, and colorful parades. Calypso music contains the rhythms of African slaves. Unfortunately, Calypso music lost its popularity as its lyrics generally contain social and political commentaries.
The Bahamas Island has its Junkanoo at the start of a new year after which the carnival celebration starts. St. Martins has the Carnival scheduled twice every year. At the French side of the island the carnival takes place just after the Lent period whereas in the Dutch side the Junkanoo celebrations start just after Easter. Junkanoo of Bahamas Island is a great fun as well as a fantastic cultural event.
The Carnival of the Cayman Islands is also known as Batabano and happens towards the end of April. The Batabano carnival is filled with music from steel bands and floats. It is usually held during the first week of May every year. If you’d like to see Caribbean culture as well as have a great fun, you should attend Batabano carnival that is full of energy.
Whether you attend Batabano, Antigua carnival or Junkanoo, it is a great experience and opportunity to see the carnival culture on Caribbean islands.
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