Kiddies Carnival

Since the colonial import of Catholicism and the European pre-Lent Carnival tradition in the 1700s, the Carnival celebration in Trinidad has drawn from many varied sources.  Although there are plenty of eye-popping sights (think Rio, bikinis, etc.) to behold during the main parades on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, you get a different type of eye-popping costumes at traditional parades.  Friday morning was 'Kiddies Carnival', featuring adorable kids dressed up as traditional characters and archetypes that each tend to have their own interesting histories.

These are Pierrot Grenade, descended from the Commedia dell'arte character Pierrot.

The groups of kids started out gathering in the Savannah.  I saw the 'red galleon' imagery several times, often as a hat - it's likely some sort of Sailor variation.

We saw this person (couldn't tell gender!) a few times at different events.  Some people work on and refine their costumes over years, and become known for their characters.

After gathering at the Savannah, the Kiddie Carnival parade proceeded down Frederick Street.  This is one of those "I know this name from calypsos" places, one of the longtime traditional parade routes.  Regarding the yellow flyers on the pole, I would see similar ones posted around town, advertising different groups to join, and wondered what they were all about.  I would find out a few days later, on Monday, J'ouvert morning!

The Minstrel character originated from slaves' turning around of blackface costumes worn by the plantation owners, hence whiteface!

The Fancy Indian character is one of the more popular ones, drawing from Native North American imagery.

A view down Frederick Street.

In between groups and providing the omnipresent dancing rhythms are trucks - this is one playing a soca rhythm.

Another soca truck, you can see the 3 'iron' (brake drum) players on the back.  That is what they play, over and over, for the entire parade!

Another great Fancy Indian.

There are a lot of different characters that you will recognize after a few examples, and wonder what their histories are.  Often they will include specific behaviors or dances.

Here is a tassa group similar to the previous post's Unity Tassa.  It was even more impressive remembering how heavy those tree-trunk drums were, and looking down the street at how long the parade was going to be.

Something is in the water that makes every kid in Trinidad unfailingly cute.

Double bullwhips, I think this may be a Blue Devil variant.

Another appearance, this was one of my favorite costumes.

It was exciting to catch the rare sight of a Tamboo Bamboo group.  At one point in the colonial history of Carnival-related suppression, drums with skin heads were banned, and the response was cutting lengths of bamboo to give different pitches, and hitting them on the ground and with sticks, leading to a new musical form.  Notice the metal drum with two notes beaten into it, high and low - this was the first step in the development of the modern steel pan.

This was our first peek at people playing Blue Devils, the leader of this group is opening a tub of black paint..

..and re-applying.  This guy was intense.

Many of them had red bloodlike paint, sometimes dribbling from their mouths.

It's tough to explain how disorienting and chaotic it is, so here is a video.  Loud whistles, primitive beastlike screaming and behavior, often one player will be tied with a chain and 'restrained' from the crowd by another.  One of the 'beasts' will target and point at an onlooker, writhing around them until they hold out a dollar, quickly snatched away.  They are accompanied by people playing biscuit tins hung around their necks, playing a specific pattern with a weird, disorienting feel.  More on Blue Devils later, on Monday night we would go to the 'source'.