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I FOUND THIS ARTICLE, AND THOUGHT I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE IT EVEN I LEARNED A LITTLE ABOUT CARIBBEAN HISTORY.

Trinidad Carnival: Afri-Caribbean Resistance
February 23, 2003
by Corey Gilkes


It will appear strange to some that Africa has anything to do with the carnival traditions they participate in. It may be even more surprising to know that in Africa, these festivals are still being celebrated in most West African states, such as the Egungun festival of Nigeria. Depending upon where one goes it lasts anywhere between 17days to three months [ie from March to May]. In these festivals we see all of the elements that go into the ‘Mas of Trinidad, Cuba, Rio-de-Janeiro: - reversal of social station, gay revelry, pantomime, street parades hand clapping, music and masking. The use of the mask is as old as humanity; people wore animal skins and heads and "became" the deity or totem they represented. They took on the attributes of their totems, personified their ancestors, and wore distorted masks to portray supernatural beings. We find the use of masking in ancient funerary rites, yam and rain festivals and initiation rites. In the Egungun festival of Nigeria as well as the festivals held in Senegal, Benin, and many other parts of Africa, characters that can be identified with similar characters in Trinidad: the moko-jumbie stilt walker, a type of Dame Lorraine, griot court singers [who is the calypsonian in Trinidad] and devils. Even the hat worn by our Midnight Robber is worn by high priests and priestesses of the Yoruba.

Even the European version of the festival has some interesting revelations; the Romans celebrated Saturnalia and the Lupercalia festival – pre-Lenten festivals dedicated to Bacchus. These were characterised by wild licentious celebrations. Young men would run naked through the fields with leather straps to strike any young woman they would run across, and women would be raped openly in the streets. These wild festivities diffused to Rome via the Greek Dionysian festivals and Arcadian shepherds who in turn copied the festival from the spring solstice celebrations of Egypt. As far back as 525 BCE Greek historian Herodotus wrote in Book II of his "Histories" that the festivals to Bacchus were copied from Egypt as well as the names of the Greek deities [For Classical accounts refer to Herodotus and Ovid]. This was the Egyptian celebration for the fertility of the earth and women and to mark the opening of their crop season.

These were joyous, yet solemn occasions, with men parading through the streets, each one holding a phallus as a sign of homage to womanhood [Pissenlit a carnival character that was outlawed in Trinidad in the 19th century, bears faint resemblance to this ancient phallic procession]. The ancients did not view the human body and sexuality in the same schizophrenic way the West did. In fact, it is ironic that such a festival in Classical Greece could be identified with a deity who freed women when most of our present day chauvinism can be directly traced back to the patriarchal cultures of Greece and Rome.

Researchers like Robert Tallent show that the Egyptians held many festivals honouring the changing of the seasons, beginning and end of crop season, initiation and funerary rites. Among the many calendrical festivals were the festivals of Opet, held in the first month when the inundation of the Nile forced a halt to agricultural work; the harvest festival of Min when the deities of fertility were praised; the funerary Drama of Yusir/Osiris – commemorating the death and resurrection of Yusir; the Sed festival which marked the rejuvenation of the Pharaoh; irrigation rites held in August when the irrigation canals were opened to let the waters of the Nile flow into the interior (interpreted as the union of Yusir and Auset/Isis). There were also royal accession rites and festivals honouring the priesthood.

19th century curator of the British Museum, EA Walli-Budge has described some of these festivals in several works. In this excerpt from "Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection", he writes about a Passion festival dedicated to Yusir:


[A] procession formed of priests and the ordinary people. Ap-uat walked in front, next came the boat containing the figure of the god and a company of priests or "followers" of the god, and the rear was brought up by a crowd of people……The boat of the god was then attacked by a crowd of men who represented the foes of Osiris……A solemn service was performed in the temple before the body was carried from it, and offerings were eaten sacramentally, and then the procession set out for the tomb. When it reached the door of the temple it was received by a mighty crowd of men and women who raised the death-wail, and uttered piercing shrieks and lamentations, and the women beat their breasts. Many of them in the crowd were armed with sticks and staves, and some of them pressed forward toward the procession with a view to helping the god, whilst others strove to prevent them. Thus a sham fight took place, which, owing to the excitement of the combatants, often degenerated into a serious one……This fight was, of course, intended to represent the great battle which took place in prehistoric times between Set and Osiris, when Osiris was killed.

Here we see another aspect of Trinidad’s mas, stickfighting. We also see here the street procession and the use of floats [sacred boat litter] that has survived in the mas of New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro as well as the revellers who fell in behind the leaders of various sections. Even the mock battle evokes memories of the mock battles – and real ones – staged by Casablanca and Tokyo Steel Orchestras in the 1950’s. then the concept of the "Robber Speech" was anticipated by several hymns said during these Egyptian Passion plays and the dramas of the Igbo of Nigeria:

[Says the Igbo grandee who portrays the spirit of Evil Forest]

"I am Evil Forest. I kill a man on the day his life is sweetest to him..."

"I am Evil Forest, I am Dry-meat-that-fills-the-mouth, I a Fire-that-burns-without-faggots..."

This spring solstice festival continues in the Xian world as Easter and possibly was the origin of the Hindu Phagwa festival. So it is not incorrect to state that in Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is celebrated twice every year.

Carnival in 19th century Trinidad

European Carnival celebrations came to Trinidad in the 18th century with the French who were invited by the Spanish, the then governors of Trinidad. Of course, these French settlers brought with them their cultural baggage. As the French Creoles set up great houses and businesses in Trinidad, they held elaborate masked balls during the pre-Lenten period. These elaborate balls continued even though the island changed ownership by force from Spain to Britain in 1797. These balls were witnessed with great amusement by their enslaved Africans who began to have private celebrations of their own incorporating their own sacred traditions particularly masking and funerary rituals. They also used these occasions to mock and lampoon the lascivious conduct of the masters and their wives. The editorials of the day often commented on these masked balls of the French with glowing descriptions of the various disguises.

This was to change completely after 1834 when chattel slavery abolished and the ex-slaves took to the streets in joyful though orderly processions. From the moment the "freed" Africans began to openly participate in the Carnival, the editorials became hostile, critical of the inclusion of African dances and masking, and called for an end to the festival. The following is a letter written by "A Scotchman (sic) in the Port-of-Spain Gazette that gives an indication of the feelings of some of the whites at that time, We will not dwell on the disgusting and indecent scenes that were enacted in our Streets -- we will not say how many we saw in a state so nearly approaching nudity, as to outrage decency and shock modesty -- we will not describe the AFRICAN custom [emphasis mine] of carrying a stuffed figure of a woman on a pole, which was followed by hundreds of negroes yelling out a savage Guinea song [we regret to say nine-tenths of these people were Creoles].......but we will say at once that the custom of keeping Carnival, by allowing the lower order of society to run about the Streets in wretched masquerade, belongs to other days and ought to be abolished in our own.

Admittedly, the masked revellers used to make full use of their disguises to settle old scores as well as pelt the police [many of whom were from Barbados -- another ploy in the divide and rule tactics of the British]. One editorial from a newspaper of the time, the Port-of-Spain Gazette, gives an indication of the mood of both groups: "On Sunday afternoon, an attempt was made by Mr Peake [Sgt Peake - Asst. Chief of Police] to check the shameful violation of the Sabbath by the lower order of the population, who are accustomed at this time of year to wear masks and create disturbances on a Sunday" Peake’s efforts were rewarded by a stoning of his house. Though the reports suggest racial prejudice on the part of the editors and the class they represented, it must also be understood that the whites, who came from societies that harboured a puritannical obsession with anything perceived as sexual, were truly shocked by some of the dances and characters, many of whom were openly sexual. Further, the fear of reprisals played heavily on the thinking of the whites and it was always feared that Carnival celebrations would be used as a cover to murder the white population [it should also be noted that the Africans shifted the period of Carnival to August 1 to coincide with the ending of chattel slavery, it was only at the close of the 19th century that the Carnival was brought back to the pre-Lenten period].

I believe someone posted this article a few months back.
Lots of new members though. Thanks