So after a few days already of very little sleep, I completely crashed for several hours and got up in time to catch a ride back to town for the Mardi Gras Parade. It was a very cool experience.
A few months back, groups that design the costumes (new designs every year) started to release their concept drawings. Honestly--I didn't think much of them; in fact I thought many of them looked rather silly. However, I must admit that when I saw them actually worn by people in 3-D, they looked very cool indeed. These costume production designers to my understanding, create a bunch of these costumes and sell them to people who are interested in marching in the parade and competition. These costumes are not cheap! They range in the ball park from EC$300-500 from what I hear. One of the local guys, Boston, ended up getting his for less I think because he waited until the last minute to strike a bargain discount.
So each outfit has a designer and theme name to them. Some I know and are modeled after local things--like breadfruit and saltfish, ital (rasta-vegetarian style of cooking), adrenalin, goat cook, etc. There were so many varieties of costumes and the mass of people wearing them was amazing. I've been to parades before, but not ones that had some many people in coordinated outfits. I did notice there were predominately more women than men dressed up and I haven't looked into why as yet. There were also these giant costume pieces. I suppose they would compare to a float in a parade back home, except that most of these are very ornately detailed and usually pulled by a chest harness.
The costumed people would gather near Victoria Park, where they would go inside on stage and put on a little show for the judges. Then they would take places next to a party truck--which is really a rather large truck that has been rigged with a generator, many speakers, and a dj--and once they get a large enough group together, they add to the already marching parade procession. I heard there was a 2nd part of the judging that viewed groups on the street at a certain venue, but I didn't confirm it. After a lap around town, some groups kept going and others too breaks. As the day wore on....more and more costumed groups added to the fray, but also regular people started piling into the streets and jumping up with the party trucks and the costumed people. Eventually, it became another street jump till about 10pm when that marked the end of Carnival for this year. It was good times. From what I learned, one of the volunteers got the chance to spend time helping make the costumes and evenutally earned one to keep and wear for the parade. I might try to do that for next year.
Here's a link to the parade pics in my Facebook album.
Otherwise enjoy a sample from these below:
And for those of you who scrolled down this far...
I don't have many pictures from the all night-morning J'Ouvert (joo-vay), because that was the wildest/craziest night of all of Carnival. I was warned ahead of time not to wear anything I cared about. People there go off the hook and paint each other up, dance however they want around the party trucks, and have a good time.
I wore my stained up banana shirt and wrote 'Ripe Banana' on the back--locals thought that was hilarious. I also wore my waterboots, because I could care less if those got painted up. The kicker was that I wore a green school girl's skirt--idea and provided for by my friend in the village Claire. She insisted on the idea saying that many people dress up like that. Honestly, a few did--but not many. It also made me the talk of Spring Village...although I haven't worked out just how good or bad that talk might be. Apparently, several say I am now the most macho guy in Spring simply because none of the other men were gutsy enough to do that. I wonder if macho is really the work though when a skirt is involved...? I also wore my silver sunglass frames minus lens that I got from the recently deceased Murphy in tribute--he loved his jump-ups.
At J'Ouvert, I went from whiteboy to human tomato. I got painted red from my head to waist nearly completely. I didn't even realize my entire head/face was coated read until I passed by a reflective store window later in the morning. I just about freaked, but it was a good time. This little bash started around midnight for us in town and the guys I was with finally pulled out around 10:30am. Somehow, we piled 5 adult men into the backseat of a regular sized 4-door sedan. That was painful. I managed to grab a couple pics from my friend Caroline, who was selling drinks in town at the time and we were hanging out near her spot. There are still a few more pics out there--better close ups from when we got back into Spring Village, but I don't have copies of those yet.
Here I am, the human tomato.
Ended up jumping in the river with a scrub brush, rag, and bar of soap--got most of it off, but I still had a red sheen for a few days. The paint seeped through my clothes so much that I think I might have damaged my local phone. Oops. I also have a cloth pouch I use as a wallet that was strapped around my neck--yeah...all the white parts are now pink. Good times. >.< Lesson learned.
Now I've got about 30 minutes till I'm expected to be picked up and head off to the airport...mur. Looks like I didn't sleep tonight after all. If you're not sure why I'm going or for what--hit the post archive on the left and look for the one called Medevac.
Stay safe and well
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn
1 comment:
Looks like a great time! I can't wait for St. Lucia Carnival in a week's time.
Best wishes for the surgery!
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