About Carnival
Trinidad Carnival, the Greatest Show on Earth, takes place in February or March of every year. This two day extravaganza ends on the stroke of midnight on Carnival Tuesday, as Ash Wednesday follows, and the Lenten period commences for the Christians.
Carnival owes its origin to the French. The French settlers were allowed by the Spaniards to settle in Trinidad towards the end of the 18th Century and soon outnumbered the Spaniards. The French dominated the islands culture. Form 1783 for half a century, they developed Carnival, a season of gay and elegant festivities extending from Christmas to Ash Wednesday. The season consisted of dinners, balls, concerts, hunting parties and ‘fete champretres.’
For some period of this festive season, leading members of society, dressed up in disguise, would drive around the streets in their carriages. In the evenings, often on foot, accompanied by bands of musicians, they would go visiting friends who usually declared ‘open house’ for the occasion.
The Africans began to participate in the festivities after the Emancipation Bill of 1833 was passed. One of the things they brought to it was their portrayal of ‘Canboulay’ (from the French cannes brulees, the burning off of the cane on the sugar plantations). At first, ‘Canboulay’ was played on August 1st, Emancipation Day, but subsequently it took place after midnight on Dimanche Gras, the Sunday before Carnival. Thus the Carnival on the streets underwent a transformation which jolted the gentry, who stopped participating in it. However, they kept up the disguised balls and the house to house visiting for fetes, entertained by small musical bands playing Spanish type instruments.
The coloured middle class threw itself with zest into such visiting while as time went by, participating more and more in the road ‘mas’ (mas being short for masquerade) of the people.
As participation by the masses increased, there persisted for over sixty years a constant stream of upper-class criticism in the press about the low standard of the Carnival. The festival used to be held on the three days preceding Ash Wednesday, but, after strong feelings were expressed about the desecration of the Sabbath, in 1943 it was restricted to the Monday and Tuesday. In the absence of any precise official statement as to time, the people began the festivities as early as possible, immediately after midnight on Sunday. The blowing of the conch shells heralded the Canboulay procession. A great crowd of people carrying lighted torches trooped through Port of Spain, a very dangerous custom in a town built chiefly out of wood. By 1870, the press claimed that Carnival was becoming ‘more thoroughly contemptible’, and dying a natural death.
Carnival was going through a crisis. In 1881 occurred the Canboulay riots. A certain Chief of Police decided to head a posse in order to end the Canboulay with its dangerous torches and riotous bands of negres jardins (farm labourers) who specialized in stick fighting. Rumour had it that the Chief of Police’s effort to curb the Canboulay was really an attempt to surpress the Carnival. This infuriated the masqueraders and a fierce battle ensued between the police and the masqueraders.
This disaster had important consequences. The day after the riots while the police and rioters were confined to barracks, the Governor of the day, Sir Sanford Freeling, addressed the people at the Eastern Market. To quote Andrew Pearce, he established a ‘relationship based on mutual consent between the populace and the Authorities’. It is agreeable to know that Carnival’s most violent incident ended in the triumph of common sense and humanity.
An account of the Carnival would not be complete without some mention of what used to be called Jamette Carnival, which continued for many years. ‘Jamette’ derives from diametre, and the designation implied beyond the diameter of respectability, or in other words, the underworld, which used to contribute to the occasion ‘hordes of disreputable males and females…organized into bands and societies for the maintenance of vagrancy, immorality and vice. These were eventually brought under control by the police, and the Canboulay processions ceased when six o’clock on the Monday morning became the official time for the Carnival to begin.
In the 1890’s Ignatiu Bodu, a city councilor and Merchant held the very first competition for the very best disguised bands and individuals for the purpose of ‘improving the moral tone of Carnival’, and that tone did indeed begin to improve. Moreover, other businessmen of Port of Spain, Arima and other centers of population became aware that this upward trend was good for business and worth encouraging.
The pre-carnival season went through many changes but was always full of activity. Even before the year is out Calypso Tents begin their activities and the Steelbands in the panyards are practicing feverishly. The Government sponsored Carnival Development Commission was formed in 1957 (now the National Carnival Commission). Since then, there has been a growing number of events to enrich the seasonal enjoyment of Carnival. The National Carnival Programme has not changed significantly in content over the years. Carnival has just become bigger and better, more glamorous, and continues to be and will always be “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
