In many parts of the world where Catholic Europeans set up colonies and entered into the slave trade carnival took root. Carnival, an annual celebration of life found in many countries of the world, a traditional festival held before the 1st day of the Lenten season, which started many years ago was adopted by the Catholic Religion as one of their traditional festivals.
Before the beginning of the …show more content…
Martin in central and South America in Belize, Panama and in large cities in Canada and the United States where Caribbean people have settled including Trinidad and Tobago. In this small nation the beliefs and traditions of many cultures comes together for a brief five days each year. The whole country forgets their differences to join in this celebration.
Like many other nations under colonial rule, the history of African people is a brutal, sad story. Carnival was introduced to Trinidad around 1785 as the French settlers began to arrive. For African people carnival became a way to express their power as individuals, as well their rich cultural traditions. After the abolishment of slavery the freed Africans began hosting their own carnival celebrations in the streets that grew more and more elaborate which soon became more popular than the balls
Today we have experienced the new creations of and in carnival it is like a mirror that reflects the faces of the many immigrants who came to this island it is such an important aspect of the life of the Trinidad people as it has evolved into a different type of celebration one that has slowly lost its traditional and cultural values. Put the meaning of …show more content…
The so called branding of mass bands epitomizes the capitalistic consumer culture that permeates carnival culture today.
People today target the luxury brand name bands, like it defines their character, or defines their self-worth. We covet the exclusivity of special section costumes echoing our own social anxieties and dreams as we prance in the streets during these two days of merriment many people think that this is what carnival is all about. The ultimate value of one’s carnival expenditure in dollars and cents begins to trump the cultural one as we value the trappings so much that the historical and social implications get lost beneath all the glitter.
As Trinbagonians, we presume that all of us have access to and at least exposure to the range of our own cultural artifacts and our own cultural history inside of our own island, we take this for granted even though this is clearly not always the case. We see carnival as a supercilious, outward presentation, copious amounts of money to be spent on skimpy costumes devoid of any kind of theatre we wear these temporary flights of fancy, disconnected from the past, in drunken abandonment, winning alongside other who lives just as we