Festivities Range from Lively Parades and Masquerade Balls to the Religious Observance of Christmas
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – From its commencement on Boxing Day through its conclusion just after the New Year, St. Kitts National Carnival is a colorful and lively display of the unique folklore and pageantry of St. Kitts.
A jubilant, engaging experience for local residents and visitors alike, Carnival celebrates the rich culture and heritage of the Kittitian people while gracefully combining the exuberant festivities with the more solemn religious observance of the Christmas holiday.
While elsewhere in the world Carnival’s main features are masquerades and parades, Carnival on St. Kitts is a profound and multifaceted artistic expression of national pride and heritage.
Blending elements of African, European and regional influences, Carnival is a time when the people of St. Kitts showcase their folklore and traditions through song, dance, drama, poetry and music in a variety of competitions, performances and street activities. Meanwhile, the spirit of Christmas is kept alive through a series of evening gospel type concerts in downtown Basseterre.
St. Kitts’ Carnival also stands out from most others due to its family-friendly nature. Both the young and old eagerly participate and there are events for specific age groups, such as the Talented Teen contest, Children’s Carnival and both junior and adult calypso competitions.
Local food and drinks are available everywhere, from saltfish cakes and black pudding to ginger beer and sorrel.
The brilliant folkloric street displays are truly the heart of Carnival, including the traditional Bull, Masquerade, Mocko-Jumbies and Clowns. The Bull is a comedic play that acts out an exaggeration of an incident reported to have taken place in the early 1900s and continues today as one of the surviving features of earlier Christmas street pageants.
Masquerade, in turn, showcases dancers dressed in vividly colored and bejeweled costumes, including elaborate feathered headdresses and masks. The awe-inspiring stilt walkers, or Mocko-Jumbies as they are called locally, have their origins in African mythology and thrill onlookers as they walk and dance on six- to eight-foot stilts. Meanwhile, the Clowns are somewhat of an enigma in the English-speaking Caribbean and are thought to be the legacy of a 17th century French governor who resided on St. Kitts.
If these street displays are Carnival’s heart, then music is its soul. Played throughout nearly every activity during the celebration, the traditional sounds of string, steel and brass bands are complimented by the intoxicating rhythms hammered out from old oil drums magically converted to chrome covered steel pan musical instruments. Street jams dominate the landscape, with the most popular jam taking place on J’ouvert, December 26, Boxing Day, signaling the end of Christmas and launching of Carnival into full swing before it draws to a close with the New Year.
“Carnival is an excellent time to visit St. Kitts and celebrate our Christmas traditions and folkloric heritage with us,” commented Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism, Sports and Culture Richard “Ricky” O. Skerritt.
“Visitors will be enchanted by the vibrant sights and sounds of our festivities and are encouraged to join into the activities. In fact, our street dancers are often known to make it our mission to get spectators involved in the action and the resultant ambiance is convivial, lighthearted and permeated by a warm sense of belonging and community.”
