Twenty Years In The Caribbean

The Adulteress' Pajamas

We had settled into permanent residence in Dominica and were almost simultaneously warmly welcomed into the life and times of both the Dominicans and the small, mostly British expatriate community. Among other things, we were introduced to, and quickly learned to love, Carnival. Perhaps this letter I wrote to my mother in Florida after we had participated in carnival a number of times best describes the event.

            "Dear Sue-Sue, (our children's name for their Grandmother). Apologies for the lack of letters of late, but we have just finished Carnival. It's called running Mas. Mas is Creole for mask, which everyone used to wear during the festival. That is until a few years ago when the police decided there was too much score settling under the cover of the disguise. Now it's illegal to wear a mask but Carnival is quite safe, and wonderful fun.

            As you know we have been encouraging you to schedule one of your visits to Dominica just before Lent so that you could participate in Carnival. This wonderful holiday is the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. In New Orleans they call this Mardi Gras.

            Each Carnival seems better than the last, and we have had more fun this year than ever before, so let me tell you about some of the happenings so that you may stiffen your resolve to come next year.

            Dominicans are so enthusiastic about celebrating this event that most plan for it for months. What they lack in big money to spend on expensive costumes they make up for with imagination and enthusiasm.

            The actual festivities begin a full week before Carnival. Competitions are held in the Capitol for a lot of things such as Carnival Queen, the most accomplished Steel Band, and the hard fought competition to determine the best Calypso and also the best Calypsonian. From the Calypso competition comes the one song which the revelers choose to sing the most during Carnival. It may not be the winner of the competition but it becomes the road song of that year. The road song is usually one that is easy to remember because of a catchy phrase or two, it's usually naughty, and it's the one quickly picked up by the crowds running Mas.

            By the preceding Saturday the preliminaries are out of the way and the anticipation of the first party of the Carnival weekend takes hold of everyone. This night is called Samidi Gras (pronounced sort of like Sam-di-graw).

            The Union Club has a really great fete Saturday night. There is hardly enough room to move in the place when it gets going, but so what. The music is live and hot and the dancing gets so energized that everyone is soon "Jumping up" and having a heck of a good time.

            That's the real beginning of Carnival, and many of the dozens of groups, called Bands, have private parties if they are not going to the Union Club.

            A Band is really a band of persons rather than a musical band although there is a lot of music at Carnival. There are social bands, which I will describe for you later, and there are the big theme bands. The theme bands are made up a lot of people and each participant agrees to make a costume that fits the theme of the band. One year our whole band and family was Chinese. They have cowboy motifs, space motifs, fantasy motifs, red Indians (as distinguished from East Indians). You can probably think of a few more. These groups really do a wonderful job with costumes and they construct floats that carry their particular motif. There is no real restriction on being in one of these. You get a lot of invitations to join or you can ask to join and they are glad to have you.

            These theme bands are judged on Carnival Monday morning. Each group forms up and moves into the parade at the position they have been given and they move through town slowly past the judges. It is generally the same in Rio and Trinidad, and New Orleans I'm sure. It is amazing how g