I previously stated how the music genre varies as the seasons
change. However, in the tropics, the
seasons are a little different. So instead, beginning in February, Soca music
is starting to be played almost exclusively in preparation for Carnival in
July. This time around, I was enjoying the carnival spirit a little more. I knew a little bit more of what to expect,
and this year I was going to “play mas”.
When the carnival season was gearing up last year, I was
still relatively new to all that was Vincy Mas.
I didn’t fully appreciate the music, mostly because I couldn’t
understand any of it, and I didn’t participate in only a few of the carnival
events. With a full year under my belt,
I found myself singing along to the songs this year, even bustin a whine (ha!),
and getting into the carnival spirit. I
was invited to play mas, which entails parading around town on Mardi
Gras/Carnival Tuesday in a very skimpy, very beaded and flashy bikini, and a
wild feather headdress, with my closest Vincy friend and her friends. In addition, one of my best friends from
college was coming to visit, to experience Vincy’s most important cultural
event of the year. Another friend from college who had been traveling
throughout Asia and the Middle East for the previous 3 months, decided to meet
up with us and stop in SVG before returning home to the States.
It could not have been a better group of friends to have come
visit during this very exciting week long party. Who better than my college partner in crime
to experience 4 days of non-stop drinking/dancing/partying? While she didn’t
get to see much of the country I now call home, she did enjoy carnival, which
was the primary reason for her coming when she did. Nick arrived ahead of Rose
and got to see most of the key “tourist” destinations on the island. These adventures also resulted in my phone
mashing up, but only after I realized that the phone company shut off my phone
because I failed to pay my bill on time.
I guess I wasn’t able to manage my money with all the carnival
activities. So in the end, not having a working phone didn’t matter much, when
I couldn’t actually make phone calls. Although,
what a week to not have a phone!
Anyways, once Rose arrived we promptly began the carnival
festivities. First we had to pick up our
costumes. We then went back to town for a concert. However, after traveling for so long, due to
the remoteness of SVG and customs issues in Trinidad, she was beat so we
decided to rest up for the next few days’ activities. Boy am I glad we did. The next day we relaxed around my house in
preparation for J’Ouvert that night, cooked some authentic Vincy food, and
explored my community a little bit. Later in the evening we headed to town for
J’Ouvert, a street party starting late at night, whereby you pour paint all
over yourself, your friends, and strangers, while dancing to Soca music,
drinking rum or Hairoun into the late morning.
By the end of it, we were completely covered in paint from head to toe,
I mashed up both my shoes and subsequently had to walk home barefoot. By the time we got home, bathed, tried to
remove all the paint, cooked, ate, and got ready to go back to town in the
afternoon, there was barely any time for a nap. We set off down the road for a
van again in the early afternoon, only hours after returning home from
J’Ouvert, for the T-shirt band jump up.
The jump up is another street party involving drinking,
dancing, and parading around Town. A lot
of revelers purchase T-shirts for particular “bands” which allows you unlimited
drinks (if you can get them). When you
purchase your T-shirt you also receive a water bottle and bandana; the water
bottle to fill with beer that is handed out from pick-up trucks, and the
bandana to protect your hair from the rain that will inevitably come, or in my
case to wipe the sweat you produce from dancing so hard. It was nearly
impossible to get your bottle filled, as the truck was continuously moving and
constantly swarmed by people also trying to get their bottles filled. To get
your bottle filled you needed to shove your bottle in one of the guys giving
out the beer’s face and hope that they chose yours to fill. Luckily?, one of my
students was dispensing the beer, so he gave me first priority. That sure doesn’t happen in the States.
Surprisingly, we lasted pretty late into the night, despite
running on little, if any, sleep. Unfortunately, since it was so late, vans
were scarce, or already full. We had to
walk pretty far out of Town before we could catch a van. The next morning was
what we had all been waiting for: Vincy Mas.
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