"Many journeyed to the mountain. Some worshiped at its foothills. A few climbed to its heights and listened to solitude." -- Daye, The Singing Mountain
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| Some masqueraders are given leeway to be all "fire breathing dragon." But not to harm bystanders. |
HAW HAW! A Carnival masquerader wrote in to the Guardian demanding
respect, and referred to environmentalists as "bleeding-heart."
Typical "do so doh like so."
Typical "do so doh like so."
Did I not say Trinis are hypocrites?
Here is a person insisting on respect
for those who want to jump and wine in comfort and safety for two days of the
year; yet, cannot respect environmentalists who, despite disparagement and
danger, commit their lives to protecting the earth for us all.
"Pave the damn Savannah ..." the letter insisted. Ha ha.
A man I knew asserted, "I hate when people tell me I'm not
Trini because I hate callaloo!"
When I
told him I'd never been to Panorama he called me "unpatriotic."
Hypocrisy, I tell yuh.
Well, believe it or not, some of us are just not on the Carnival
tip.
Stewing de culture
It is an amazing occasion: calling together
energy, creativity, talent and the fire-blended passion of our people; pouring
all unbridled into a hot, hot cauldron and making people, for the duration,
delicious meat in a single stew.
But I have no desire to be part of that meal.
I have
tried going out a couple of times, only to be absolutely wretched and utterly
out of my element.
For one thing, I have a problem with touch and suffer from
developed enochlophobia: the fear of crowds.
A buddy proposed: "Play in an all female section."
My disgusted reaction? "Dongs or breasts, it's still a
crowd!"
Some people can be converted. My very own big sister played mas'
for the first time three years ago.
She loved it!
A far cry from the country girl who couldn't even collect mail
from the postman, she was that shy.
Carnival is phenomenal.
What I find sad, however, is the fact that we as a people seldom
define what it is for.
Is it just a big, long fête? A cool-off session to balance the
rest of the year? A chance to "get on bad," "mash up de place,"
"wine on somebody gyul child tonite" (I still can't
get over that one)?
Or is it
truly a festival: a baptism by fire and light, yielding the uptight self to the
embrace of the distended cosmos within our freedom-loving essence?
It is a work of art, created with vitality, zest and spirit, as
each participant adds body, mind and power to the turgid, shifting sculpture,
alive with worth.
It is all this and more.
Carnival: war dance?
Still, I pity the poor non-Carnival partisan
who must, nonetheless, trudge out on Monday and Tuesday.
I know people say, "If yuh not on Carnival stay
indoors!"
Well some people are fond of just watching; while, get this, the
country does not shut down.
Some of
us have to work, whether we want to or not.
Thus I'm starting to get a little feverish over a rising
ochlocratic attitude in some Carnival band members.
It smacks of the warriors-on-the-warpath timbre that once
overshadowed rival steelbands.
Doubtless there is a danger to everything in life. Doubtless,
masqueraders face danger.
But now we have those who act as though the fact that hard-back
men and women dress up in sequins and beads somehow suspends the laws of the
land.
In the same letter to the Editor, a reference was made to
"ziggerboos that invade the band and interfere with the women."
Yes, I too have seen such lochos meddling with
women and being tolerated.
Yet, I, as a fledgling reporter many years ago, tried to cross a
band on Independence Square for a better photo angle, only to be intentionally
and violently flung out onto a wall by a big female
masquerader.
Other "innocents" have spoken of such unfair occurrences
to me.
Band
bouncers boldface
People are warned: "Stay out of the
bands!"
To clarify, that means do not try to jump in a band if you didn't
buy a costume.
Band "bouncers" have the right to escort a freeloader
out of the band or, if you want to act like an ass, manhandle you, but using
only as much force as is necessary.
Band members have no right to physically abuse or mistreat any
member of the public who is not threatening them or their good time.
Buying a costume entitles you to gyrate in a band or act like
a warrahoon on stage. It does not mean you own the public
streets.
So you don't like people crossing you. This is a small thing!
Puritanical thinkers may flap their gums about your skimpy Speedos, but
they tolerate you.
They do not pelt you with bottles or shove you off pavements when
you walk by in front of their homes and children.
Take time to discern who wants to crash your good time and deal
with them.
Those who just want to pass should be left alone to do so.
Think: if four big bands are coming down a street, one after the
other, must the person who needs to get across wait for all thousands of
masqueraders to pass?
Is your good time so important that you
would risk injuring someone who is just trying to get to the other side of the
street? Even when the laws of the land state that the pedestrian has the
right of way?
Remember, anything you do to someone is
exactly what you give them the right to do to you and yours.
So this Carnival, let us try to live and
love those who also live and let us live.
Oh ... and shine on
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Just the tip of the ice-burg of trash collected at Carnival time. People do not realise this, too, is a part of environmentalism.
Bet masqueraders are glad all their detritus is "magically" gone come Ash Wednesday.
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