Take the time to picture a road in your nearest major city overflowing with dancing people, creating a sea of beautiful hues in the street. They awaken the pavement with the heavy pulse of soca music in their feet and the happiness in their souls. The glitter, feathers, and sequins from the hand-made costumes paint the streets in a pretty mélange as the ground soaks in the spilled spirits that didn’t quite get to stay in a cup. This is a picture of the Atlanta Caribbean Festival, colloquially known as carnival.
You may now be linking the word carnival with the Brazilian celebration that occurs around the same time of year and you’re still warm. In fact, carnival is not only celebrated in the United States Brazil participates every year, Miami, Brooklyn, Canada, Texas, Baltimore and so does the spicy city of New Orleans with the widely known Mardi Gras bash. However, the Caribbean festival the States have adopted over the years refers to the carnival that is celebrated in the West Indies, specifically in Trinidad and Tobago. Crop Over know by Bajans, Bacchanal by Jamaicans, and Kanaval by Haitians, but essentially it’s the same celebration all over the world.
Carnival is thought of as the greatest time of the year in Trinidad; an extravaganza that shakes up the island similar to your favorite margarita on the rocks. It’s a time to release from you from your mundane worries and enjoy one another as a people. In the 1700’s, the French plantation owners of the island would plan masquerades and balls before Lent holiday, but the slaves were never able to participate. Forming their own celebration called Canboulay, deriving from French meaning ‘burnt canes’, carnival was born from the warm hearts of the subservient and caught fire throughout the Caribbean.
Today, carnival is the largest and most significant cultural event in Trinidad that brings in thousands of tourists from all over the world. With a mountain of preparation beginning a whole year prior, the island has an entire budget allocated for hotels, event locations, performers, music, and more. The celebration starts the weekend before Lent up until Ash Wednesday. Officially starting with Jouvert morning (joo-vey) on Monday, a messy paint, mud, and powder party in the streets leads to a cleaner Carnival Tuesday with people dressed in brilliant, bejeweled costumes that will judged based on each band's performance. With headpieces that could surpass your shoulders and over your head to complete body pieces that could extend past your wingspan and onto the ground with wheels to help you navigate. Tuesday accentuates the beauty of the people and the country with native food and music, and camaraderie within the communities. A calm Ash Wednesday follows to end the festival with a serene day at the beach or one’s home with more traditional food and music.
Brought to Atlanta and other major cities in the States by West Indian migrants, carnival has flourished in this beautiful city over the years. Coined as “The Greatest Show on Earth” in Trinidad, Atlanta is the runner up with one of the largest Caribbean communities in the U.S closest to the West Indies next to Miami and Brooklyn. The sweltering roads of Decatur, Ga. were flooded with masqueraders, onlookers, and vendors this Memorial Weekend celebrating their piece of Trinidad.
“And we don’t even care, because carnival is here!”, a snippet of lyrics from a massive soca song released for this year’s carnival by Kes the Band, a group of Trinidadian artists. This anthem and many more push that same careless and free attitude every year and sprinkles a little bit of happiness to listeners around the world. Now, take the picture that you painted initially and color yourself in! Sketch the typical Memorial Day weekend and drown it in the ultimate shades of the Caribbean experience. Gather your friends, buy the best costume, indulge in the best fingertip-kissing food, and let go.
text: Sade’ Louis
visuals: Sade’ Louis
Nice😊
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