What is Carnival?
The Caribbean Carnival is the creative and artistic expression of dispossessed people. As Caribbean people have migrated to North America and Europe their pre-Lenten celebrations have followed them, introducing Carnival to many nations. Carnival is believed to have originated as a pagan festival in ancient Egypt, before the rise of Christianity, but later celebrated by the Greeks and then the Romans. The popular festival was adopted by the Roman Catholic Christian church in Europe as the festival of Carne Vale, similarly seen as a final celebration before Lent where participants indulge in food, drinks, and dancing. The Carnival festival was transported to the Caribbean by the European slave traders. They excluded the African slaves from the festival and had lavish masquerade balls. Today, it is considered a celebration of the emancipation of African slaves in the Caribbean that transformed the European festival forever, having new origins in African and indigenous heritage as the Creole artistic cultures developed in the Caribbean.
There are multiple forms of the festival but it is the Caribbean Carnival that has exported to large cities all over the world. The word Carnival is made up of two Latin words, carne, meaning flesh and vale, meaning farewell or leaving out. In the Catholic calendar carne vale, farewell to flesh, is a feast celebrated on the Sunday (Dimanche Gras), Monday (Lundi Gras) and Tuesday (Mardi Gras) before Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent and fasting. The Caribbean Carnival consists of masquerade, dance, and music. It is unique as a festival as it incorporates the fine arts, street theatre, artistic and musical social organisation, spectator participation, political commentary, spectacle and fantasy. The four elements of Carnival are song, music, costume and dance, which translate as calypso/soca, steelpan, mas (masquerade), and ‘wine’ (dance) in the Caribbean Carnival. Trinidad is the island in the Caribbean with the most developed and well-known Carnival. Wherever the Trinidadians go they transplant their Carnival culture.
Carnival first came to Trinidad with the French Catholic plantation slave owners during the 1700s. It consisted of indoor masked balls and was an exclusive, high society event. The African peoples were brought to the Caribbean as slaves from countries in West and Central Africa that stretch from Senegal to Central African Republic, and include countries that are now Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo, and Central African Republic. Those brought to Trinidad as slaves, also carried with them their own strong masquerade traditions, music and songs, which were used for celebration and the rituals of life, e.g. birth, death, puberty and marriage. This was especially strong with those who were Yoruba (Nigeria), as their strong civilization and religious structure dominated. The high society event later evolved into a ritual called Cannes Brulees, French for “sugarcane burning,” a major export of the twin island nation. As an act of rebellion, the enslaved people began burning sugar cane that had been intended for sale. During the ritual, percussive music inspired by the African heritage was performed on instruments resembling drums. Later, as the celebration developed into Canboulay and control over the islands were passed to the British government, the use of sticks and drums were deemed to be too violent and subsequently outlawed. These restrictions did little to deter people from the ritual causing, instead, the development of the steel pan. Today, music continues to play a major role in Carnival celebrations, connecting the generations as a form of oral tradition that began as a way to speak about experiences during slavery.