About Carnival & Dates

Future Trinidad & Tobago Carnival Dates
2013 Carnival February 11 & 12
2014 Carnival March 3 & 4
2015 Carnival February 16 & 17
2016 Carnival February 8 & 9
Carnival in Trinidad & Tobago
Carnival was introduced to Trinidad around 1785, as the French settlers began to arrive. The tradition caught on quickly, and fancy balls were held where the wealthy planters put on masks, wigs, and beautiful dresses and danced long into the night. These balls were often very elaborate and held outside it is where we arrive at the name “FETE” which loosely translates to festival. The use of masks had special meaning for the slaves, because for many African peoples, masking is widely used in their rituals for the dead. Obviously banned from the masked balls of the French, the slaves would hold their own little carnivals in their backyards — using their own rituals and folklore, but also imitating their masters’ behavior at the masked balls.
For African people, carnival became a way to express their power as individuals, as well as their rich cultural traditions. After 1838 (when slavery was abolished), the freed Africans began to host their own carnival celebrations in the streets that grew more and more elaborate, and soon became more popular than the balls.
African Traditions
Very Important to Caribbean festival arts are the ancient African traditions of parading and moving in circles through villages in costumes and masks. Circling villages was believed to bring good fortune, to heal problems, and chill out angry relatives who had died and passed into the next world. Carnival traditions also borrow from the African tradition of putting together natural objects (bones, grasses, beads, shells, fabric) to create a piece of sculpture, a mask, or costume — with each object or combination of objects representing a certain idea or spiritual force.
Feathers were frequently used by Africans in their motherland on masks and headdresses as a symbol of our ability as humans to rise above problems, pains, heartbreaks, and illness — to travel to another world to be reborn and to grow spiritually. Today, we see feathers used in many, many forms in creating carnival costumes.
African dance and music traditions transformed the early carnival celebrations in the Americas, as African drum rhythms, large puppets, stick fighters, and stilt dancers also called “Maco Jumbies” began to make their appearances in the carnival festivities.
Religious Significance
Hundred and hundreds of years ago, the followers of the Catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, carnevale. As time passed, carnivals in Italy became quite famous; and in fact the practice spread to France, Spain, and all the Catholic countries in Europe. Then as the French, Spanish, and Portuguese began to take control of the Americas and other parts of the world, they brought with them their tradition of celebrating carnival.
Carnival TODAY!
Today, carnival in Trinidad is like a mirror that reflects the faces the many immigrants who have come to this island nation from Europe, Africa, India, and China. African, Asian, and American Indian influences have been particularly strong.
Carnival arts offers all of us a dynamic tool for self-expression and exploration, a tool to seek out our roots, a tool to develop new forms of looking at the world and its cultures, and finally, a tool to unite the world, to discover what we all have in common, and to celebrate what makes us different. The power and creativity that underlies these art forms can transform
There are many competitions that will be held during Carnival!
Calypso Monarch Soca Monarch Steel Pan (Panorama) Large Mas Band Small Mas Band Each band is lead by a KING or QUEEN who wear EXTREMELY LARGE costumes
The King & Queen are part of a competition that occurs on Carnival Sunday called Dimache Gras And finally, On Carnival Monday & Tuesday the bands are in competition to win the “BAND OF THE YEAR!” title We also have, Kiddies Carnival which can be seen in town on Carnival Friday as well as around the Savannah on Carnival Saturday! As carnival is a part of the national curriculum, there are several programs and pageants that take place at schools across the country. Children participate in Carnival as early as parents can get them into a costume! Sometimes you may go to kiddie’s carnival and even see a stroller decorated! I say this to stress that YES, it is Revelry! It is Bacchanal! It is Calamity! It is Ruckus! It is Commess! But above all! It is We CULTURE