OVERVIEW: Carnival is one of the most important events in Trinidad. It is a time for locals to let loose, but Carnival traditions also speak to the rich history and diversity of the island. The main Carnival festivities usually only last about two days, but the period of Carnival technically starts after Christmas and ends right before Lent. The elaborate costumes and performances, the vibrant parades, and the festive music bring together locals and tourists alike, as everyone wants to participate
History of Trinidadian Carnival
Today, Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago is viewed as a time to let The history of this celebration is far more than just entertainment. Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago has evolved since it’s inception, with a unique history rooted in social, political and cultural contexts. Trinidad was originally settled by Amerindians, but was found by Christopher Columbus in 1498. The Spanish then took the island as a part of their empire. In 1783, the Spanish King issued a Cedula of Population in attempting to make the island prosperous.
This edict opened the island to French colonists, as well as free blacks, and African Slaves. Each of these groups brought with them unique foods, languages, and traditions that influenced the landscape of the islands. In 1797, the British captured Trinidad and brought with them English traditions. The English, and the French who occupied Trinidad before them, spent the period between Christmas and Lent celebrating with balls, masquerades, and other parties. This was a time for extravagance, but it was reserved for the white elite. Africans and people of mixed race were forbidden from participating in the festivities that flourished in the streets around them. In 1838, slaves in Trinidad were emancipated, adding a whole new dimension to carnival. The addition of Africans participating in Carnival brought many new elements to the traditional festivities. Freed slaves used their participation as a time to mock the whites who had enslaved them using methods such as masking, dancing, and stick fighting. This new type of Carnival was seen as controversial to many of the elite whites, who were more satisfied with their own tame version of the celebration. Government intervention and class conflict defined Carnival in the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century, the upper classes started to re-enter the festival. Carnival now embodies all races, class, and ethnic groups, representing the blend of cultures and influence of colonization on the island and its people. Carnival allows individuals to play with notions of identity through masks, costumes, dancing, and more. Now, Carnival is become a major tourist attraction, drawing people from all over the world to Trinidad, as well as a time of cultural significance for the Trini people.
Characters of Trinidad Carnival
Carnival is a time for individuals to leave their real identity and embody new, unique characters. While people have the opportunity to dress as anything that they want, the history of “playing mas” is rich with traditional, archetypal characters that can be found at Carnival every year. There is a wide range of traditional mas characters for men, women, and children to represent. The costumes that are worn by those playing mas are often created in mas camps, or workshops for participants to order and collect their costumes before Carnival occurs. Each character can be presented differently based on how a mas camp decides to create the character through costume, mask, and actions. Still, there are common characteristics that make these specific characters so beloved.
The Midnight Robber is one of Trinidad’s most popular Carnival characters. The Midnight Robber is usually played by a man. He typically wears baggy pants, a fancy shirt, a cape (likely decorated with dollar signs), and a giant hat. He carries a dagger or some sort of weapon to note his power as well as a whistle to announce his entrance into any space. The Midnight Robber is confident, running around parades and asking people for money. His scope of speech is much broader than just begging though, he uses his speeches to comment on social and political issues of the time, which can range from anything from nuclear proliferation to cultural imperialism. The Midnight Robber is therefore an artist himself, and whoever plays him needs to be well trained. The Midnight Robber is “a social and political critic, humorist, and educator”. The identity of the Midnight Robber is very unique in that its has been influenced by a wide range of cultures. Some historians believe the character is based off of American western movie icons, like. Others claim that the character actually was most influenced by the West African storytellers “griots”.
Another classic character is the Devil. Even moreso than the Midnight Robber, the Devil can be played in many different ways. There are a variety of Devil roles such as Imps, Beasts, Blue Devils, Jab Jabs, and Jab Molassi. Each is characterized differently, but nonetheless embodies the Devil character. Jab Jabs are made to look more like clowns than devils, but their songs and chants prove their devilish nature. Jab Molassi wear skimpy clothing and cover their body in molasses. They are meant to be portrayed as sexually deviant. Similarly, the Blue Devils cover their bodies in blue paint. They also don horns, wings, pitchforks, and masks. Blue Devils really get into their role of being evil. They confront spectators, steal food from grocery stalls, even sometimes pulling trees out of the ground. The crazy behavior exhibited by characters playing mas shows how powerful masks can be in allowing individuals to take on new identities.
Mask-Making Techniques
To begin our brainstorm about how to make the masks for this project, we looked to research how masks are often obtained for Carnival in Trinidad. The first thing we recognized was that a costume for Carnival is rarely thrown together at the last minute. The Carnival costume in Trinidad is something that is prepared for months prior to the event, as people in Trinidad and Tobago revel in their excitement for the holiday.
Time is spent starting from Christmas Day in celebration at pre-Carnival parties around Trinidad and Tobago. The purchased pieces for Carnival costumes are often already paid for by New Year’s Day. These costumes are intricate, detailed, and contain many pieces, thus allowing them to drive up to incredibly expensive prices. Costumes are put together by the person playing mas from several separate pieces to decorate the body, and rarely come sold together as multiple pieces of one big set. These pieces are made up of purchased and handmade items that creatively suit the character the person playing mas is trying to portray. These costumes, especially those of the devil and other mythical characters, often involve the addition of masks to cover the face. In Trinidad Carnival, masks are almost always made by hand, due to the personal and varying nature of the interpretation of a character’s face. Once we recognized the intense laboring process of the mask tradition, we sought information on by what processes these masks are typically made.
Figure 5: The process and importance of mas, as told by a mas band.
Much of our research as to how these masks are made did not come from academic articles, but rather information uploaded online on blogs and websites like Pinterest by Trinidadian people as guidelines for others seeking to participate in mas. We searched the internet for various styles of creation, and found that many of them had overlapping methods. What we found was that these masks are often made of many different resources and materials, including paper, wood, and cardboard. The one stand-out that kept recurring in our searches was the papier-mache mask. Many of the pieces of the Carnival costume involve spending a lot of money, time, and effort; the papier-mache mask is popular for the few resources needed to make it. The papier-mache mask is so frequent in the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival tradition because of the simple process by which they are made, and the result that comes from that process. Making a mask from papier-mache is easy and accessible, as it does not require any special skill and uses materials that are inexpensive and common. It can be formed to appear any which way that its creator wants it to appear, both in shape and in color. When made correctly, once the mask has dried, it is sturdy enough to be painted, decorated, and worn without high risk to damage. However, the threat of damage is rarely even a concern, as once the two official days of Carnival are over, the mask, along with the rest of the costume, is typically discarded and left behind, as the mas player enters the forty days of Lent.
Our Attempt
To create a mask for Carnival, we decided that we would use papier-mache. We searched the internet for specific techniques that were used for Trinidad carnival masks of papier-mache, and found the specific list of materials that we would need. To create the structure of the masks, we would need:
- Newspaper
- Flour
- Water
- Construction paper
- Tape
- Balloons
The purchasing of these materials, aside from newspaper, water, and tape, which we obtained without cost at Colgate’s Little Hall, cost approximately $7 (which is high for this process, as we were left with ample extra materials by the end of the process). We were able to purchase these materials from the local dollar store in town in a short amount of time. To create the papier-mache paste mix, we mixed together a bowl of flour and water. We inflated balloons to serve as molds for the face and to papier-mache onto. In order to create the structure of the mask, including the bridge of the nose and holes for the eyes and mouth, we taped construction paper in the shapes of these facial features directly onto the balloons. It was then time to begin to papier-mache over these features and onto the balloons: we stripped the newspaper into small, thin strips, and dipped them into the paste sparingly, making sure not to oversaturate the paper. The strips were then settled onto the balloon until the mask was completely shaped. We then placed four layers of this papier-mache onto the mask, in order to assure that it would be thick enough for durability and to be decorated once it had dried. The masks dried 24 hours later. Once the masks were dried, we popped the balloons that molded them, and they existed as their own structures.
We then painted and decorated the masks with materials we purchased, recreating popular Trinidad and Tobago Carnival masks of the past and present. We decided that one of the masks would appear with the flag of Trinidad and Tobago, as that is a typical image used in Carnival in this region, and the other would be painted as a blue devil, another frequent character for Carnival.
Conclusion
Though the nature of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago is about fun, the making of these costumes is an incredibly laborious process. The making of these masks was on a small scale, but it helped us understand how much time, effort, money, and passion goes into making masks and costumes for Carnival in Trinidad. For us, the making of these masks took two tries, as our first creations were too brittle and fell apart before we could paint. Ultimately on our second try, we gave the papier-mache more layers, and we were able to successfully paint the masks and hold them (gently!) to our own faces.
The process of researching the history of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, and what goes into preparing for the celebration taught us a lot about the nature of social life on these islands. People spend lots of time and and money in order to celebrate extravagantly, and then quickly discard the products of their efforts as Lent begins. Recognizing these traditions allowed us to put a lens to traditions that exist similarly in the United States, most notably Halloween. We noted the all-inclusivity of Trinidadian Carnival, and developed a greater understanding of its unifying nature between people of all classes and races throughout the islands.
References
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