Cura?o
Carnival History
Everywhere in the world that carnivals have taken root
and grown, they have become unique events unto
themselves, and the premier cultural and party festival
within the region.
Origins
Many centuries ago
followers of the Catholic religion in Italy started the
tradition of a wild costume festival right before Lent.
Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during
Lent they called the festival ?carnevale? which means to
abstain from eating meat.
With the years the costume festival became more and more
famous in Italy and the practice spread to France,
Spain, and Portugal.
As the Spanish, Portuguese and French began to colonize
other parts of the world, including the Caribbean, they
also brought with them their tradition and costumes of
celebrating carnaval / carnival as the festivities are
nowadays called.
African and Other Influences
From the date when Columbus first set
foot on Caribbean soil till early nineteenth century
some six million Africans had been brought to the
Americas to work as slaves in mines and especially on
plantations.
The Africans brought with them their
traditions of parading and dancing through villages in
costumes and masks. African dance and music also had a
huge influence on carnival celebrations in the Americas.
In the Caribbean many traditions and
cultures came together as indentured workers from
Asiatic lands were transported to the region, bringing
their tradition of celebrating street festivals.
Early Carnival Celebrations
At
first the wealthy plantation owners, traders and
business people of the Caribbean region held fancy balls
after the example of the high society in their
motherlands. They would dress up stately, wear wigs and
put on masks.
Farewell Parade 2005
The slaves and their descendants would hold their own
little carnivals in their backyards using their own
rituals, costumes and folklore. At times they would
imitate their master?s behavior at masked balls.
As
they got more freedom of self expression the working
class took their celebration to the streets.
With
the years their form of celebrating carnival became more
elaborate and soon more popular than the balls held in
closed societies.
The
Beginnings
In
Cura?o, Dutch Antilles, there was a very unique
development of Carnival for the Dutch colonists had
their characteristic way of celebrating carnival, the
immigrants of Asiatic lands had theirs, the Creole
middle class in the city held private balls within their
social societies and the people from the Eastern Caribbean
islands, which had immigrated to the island to work in
the oil refinery, brought with them their form of
Carnival parties and street parades in their residential
areas to the model back home.
Cura?o
Carnival
After mid 20th century all
these influences started to merge together and melt down
into one huge national cultural expression on the island
that features people from almost fifty different
nationalities.
With the insertion of Tumba (the island?s
typical music form) as the official music form to be
promoted and played and the media coverage of almost
every important event, Carnival without a doubt became
the biggest and most important cultural manifestation of
Cura?o.
Farewell Parade 2005
Cura?o Carnival is a celebration in a
class of its own. It more or less takes full possession
of the whole community through competitions (Tumba music
and Calypso festivals), beauty pageants, private and
public parties and street parades during the first weeks
of the year climaxing on the weekend and Tuesday
preceding the Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent).
Every year tens of thousands visit the
island, which lies just 70 kilometers of the Northern
coast of Venezuela, to be part of and enjoy the unique
ambiance, beautiful sites and Carnival festivities.
Farley Lourens
For more information
on the history of Curacao Carnival, go to:
Origin and History of Carnival |
