Tobago Event & Festival HIGHLIGHTS

TOBAGO CARNIVAL - February-March

The week before lent is Carnival time in Tobago, this varies every year - refer to the date to plan your visit. Book early as Tobago has an influx of visitors for carnival. Monday and Tuesday have never been official holidays for Carnival but they are observed as such, anyway, even government offices and all banks are closed. Everybody is too busy participating in the festival to notice.

Whilst it is accepted that the Tobago Carnival is smaller than that on the sister island of Trinidad, it is still very colourful and certainly more friendly and a joy to participate.

Its a family carnival, a great time for children. Yes, participation is a must, since the spectators are swept along with the fervour of it.

For much of the year Tobagonians are preparing costumes or planning the next carnival. The carnival is about extravagant costumes making up the attire of the troupes - called mas - often from a village or sector of a town.

On the Saturday before there is the children's carnival. Proud mums in their hundreds, making finishing touches.

The pulsating sounds of steelband and tamboo bamboo will greet the early dawn as revellers herald the J'ouvert starts and culminates with the sound of steel bands, the participants covering themselves with mud and then proceeding to splatter all the bystanders with it - all in good fun. As the sun sets or before, all take a dip in the sea to wash off all the mud. You will need to take your sun tan cream and hats. Details: Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago

CARNIVAL DATES - YEAR MAIN EVENTS

2012 20 & 21 February
2013 11 & 12 February
2014 03 & 04 March
2015 16 & 17 February
2016 08 & 09 February
2017 27 & 28 February
2018 12 & 13 February
2019 04 & 05 March
2020 24 & 25 February
2021 15 & 16 February
2022 28 Feb-01 March
2023 20 & 21 February
2024 12 & 13 February
2025 03 & 04 March
2026 16 & 17 February
2027 08 & 09 February
2028 28 & 29 February
2029 12 & 13 February
2030 04 & 05 March
2031 24 & 25 February
2032 09 & 10 February
2033 28 Feb-01 March
2034 20 & 21 February
2035 05 & 06 February
2036 25 & 26 February
2037 16 & 17 February
2038 08 & 09 March
2039 21 & 22 February
2040 13 & 14 February
2041 04 & 05 March
2042 17 & 18 February
2043 09 & 10 February
2044 29 Feb-01 March
2045 20 & 21 February
2046 05 & 06 February
2047 25 & 26 February
2048 17 & 18 February
2049 01 & 02 March
2050 21 & 22 February

SATIRE & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Disapproving of what they saw as the 'desecration' of the Sabbath by the first day of Carnival, the British authorities decreed in 1843 that the festivities could not begin until Monday morning. Since no time was specified, the carnival goers began to celebrate on the stroke of midnight - the origin of the wild procession known as J'ouvert that begins Carnival today.

Many of the masquerades acted out in the street processions took the form of trenchant satires of the colonial government, and in 1846 the authorities attempted to ban masking.

Carnival found defenders in unexpected quarters, however: the French planters, keen to defend their own traditions in the face of increasing Anglicisation, and the coloured middle class, whose desire for respectability kept them aloof from Carnival but who saw attempts to control it as an assertion of white domination. Carnival continued to provide an outlet for irreverence and satire. New characters impersonated underworld archetypes: jamettes (prostitutes) and jamets ('sweetmen', or kept lovers), and the transvestite pissenlets (literally 'wet-the-bed'). Masqueraders also outrageously parodied the British sailors stationed in the island by their colonial rulers.

Bands organised drumming and kalenda (stickfighting), which is thought to have originated in the use of bamboo sticks to fight fires in the cane fields. None of this went down too well with the colonial administrators from Victorian Britain, and in 1877 Captain Baker, the island's police chief, began a campaign to tame Carnival. When British soldiers attempted to intercept a group of masqueraders in 1881, a riot broke out.

Undeterred, the authorities went on to prohibit the jamets and pissenlets on the grounds of their lewdness.

African-style drumming was banned in 1884, while canboulay and stickfighting - seen as a fire hazard and an incitement to violence respectively - were outlawed a year later under the Peace Preservation Act.

CARNIVAL BECOMES RESPECTABLE

Carnival was not so easily quashed, however, and a more sedate masquerade took to the streets in the following years. Social protest was channelled into the emerging labour movement, and Carnival became an officially-tolerated safety valve for social pressures, with the coloured middle class now becoming increasingly involved. The 'cleaning up' of Carnival was furthered in the 1890s by the introduction of a competition for best band by a Port of Spain (Trinidad) merchant and city councillor called Ignatius Bodu - fondly remembered by today's masquers as Papa Bodi.

In the course of the twentieth century, practically every aspect of Carnival became the subject of a competition. In 1921, the calypsonian Chieftain Douglas opened the first organised calypso tent to preview the songs that would be heard in the forthcoming Carnival; the tents proliferated, and as they became an established institution, the canvas gave way to permanent structures.

During World War II, Carnival was suspended by the colonial government as a possible threat to public order, and when it returned on VE Day, 1945, it marched to the sound of a different drum - the steel pan fashioned from oil drums brought to the island by the US military. As the national independence movement gained momentum, Carnival, with its music, masquerades, bands and competitions, flourished. Recognising its importance to Trinidad's cultural identity and sense of nationhood, Eric Williams's newly-elected nationalist party established the National Carnival Commission in 1957 to organise and promote the festivities, and set up the Calypso King competition. Since then, Carnival has continued to reflect the state of Trinidadian society and politics.

In 1970, as the Black Power movement gained widespread support, many of the masquerades explicitly addressed the topics of racism and white control of the economy. And as women have come to take a more prominent role in public life, they have become increasingly involved in Carnival, to the point where they now make up the majority of the masqueraders.

Though the actual construction of the costumes is becoming increasingly specialised and skilled, financial constraints have, sadly, led to the loss of many traditional Carnival characters as more and more mas camps turn to bikini mas, reducing their costumes to sequins, glitter and feathers attached to a basic bikini. A handful of designers are making a determined effort to preserve the link to Carnival's historic roots. Jason Griffith and his Sailor band ensure that sailors are still seen in the Carnival procession, while Peter Minshall has ensured the survival of characters such as moko jumbies in the performance section of his band.

More details: Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago has become not only the most outstanding national festival

	Here's what to look out for:
Feb/Mar	Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. Dates vary between the last ten days or so of February to the first few days of March. See the Carnival section for further information.
April	Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament (TIGFT), held at Pigeon Point. Attracts boats from the southern Caribbean. They practise tag and release on the larger Bill fish species, as do all the game fishing boats here.
April	Famous Goat Races, held on Easter Tuesday at Buccoo. The goat must be accompanied by a runner! Also Crab Racing (before the crabs meet the dumplings!!). See: Goat and Crab Race Festival
May	The Tobago Yachting World Regatta is held from a Sunday to a Friday on the second week of May. A Regatta Village is set up in the gardens the Crown Point Beach Resort at Store Bay. See: Tobago Carnival Regatta
July	Tobago Heritage Festival - held between July 20th-30th. Featuring an old time Tobago wedding at Moriah.
September	Great Race. Power boat race, coming over from Trinidad. Details: Du Maurier Great Race (Carib Beer Great Race) - An Open Sea Power Boat Race
September	Tobago Fest is a mini-carnival-style event held between 27th-30th September and complete with a Carnival Queen. See: Carnival Section

Tobago Event & Festival DETAILS

National Festivals and Holidays in Trinidad and Tobago

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