Island Vibes Magazine

Grenada Carnival

Posted on 28. Aug, 2009 by admin in Arts and Culture, Travel

By Setrige Crawford

Grenada, AKA the Spice Island has one of the hottest and most vibrant carnivals of all the Caribbean nations. One of the smaller islands in the Caribbean, Grenada’s carnival is certainly not as popular as Trinidad & Tobago’s carnival or as big as Canada’s Caribana but it is unique in its celebration of the jab-jab, making it an event that nationals and tourists look forward to year after year.

Jouvert

Before everyone goes on the road to kick-off Carnival with the jouvert morning celebration, Grenadians warm-up by cooking, drinking rum and hanging out. By now Carnival is in full swing, even though it didn’t really start yet. The months leading up to Carnival is filled with pre-celebration parties. All of the latest soca and calypso that you expect to hear for Carnival is pounded from stereo systems across the island.

The Carnival Queenshow and Kingshow, take place the Thursday and Friday before carnival. This kicks of Carnival as beautiful pageant contestants compete for Carnival Queen. Road March king and Mass Gras king are crowned at the Kingshow. They perform their songs at Queens Park National Stadium. Their acts are very animated and include skits. A panel of judges crowns the king in both categories.

Panaroma is next, where the best steel bands on the island battle each other. They write original music just for Carnival. The competition is fierce and so it’s no wonder that this is the highlight of Carnival for many people. But it still hasn’t even really gotten started yet.

Once the Carnival spirit is in everyone’s bones, Grenadians get their drums, their costumes and their bad behavior and head to Grenville at around 5am, Monday morning. This is the beginning of Carnival Monday and you know Carnival is in full effect when hear the Jab Jab coming down the road.

Jab Jab

You can’t tell the story of Grenada carnival without talking about Jab Jab crews. They are the heart of Grenada carnival. Men paint themselves in tar black, yellow or blue, representing different colors of the devil. Some wear fake horns on their heads, not much other clothing is worn and every neighborhood has its own jab jab crew.

As they march down the road towards Grenville, they chant original tunes. The tunes are about gossip going on in that neighborhood. Who is sleeping with who. Who has a child with who. Whatever mess they can put together in a song and jump up and down to. One year in Carnival the jab jab had a box with a woman in it. You had to pay to go in the box. No one knows what went on the box, but the jab jab made plenty money that Carnival. They are the true bad boys of Carnival.

As they proceed to Grenville, more jab jab join the crowd. They blow sea shells to the classic jouvert tune while other jab jabs are on trucks pounding their jouvert tune. The black jab jabs, covered in tar, are the most energetic bunch and they bring us into Carnival Monday and the celebration of Mas.

Carnival Monday

By now, the streets of Grenville are pumping. The kids play mas in Kiddie Carnival, while the adults have their own mas. They dress up in their costumes and wine the day away. There are vendors, police and people behaving badly in the streets. The women are jamming their waistlines, wearing eccentric and revealing costumes. Short skirts rise revealing everything to the man jamming her from behind. Don’t be surprised if you see one or two people wearing nothing at all. There are people laid out on the ground still gyrating and dancing. Their bodies covered in paint, sweat and powder. This is a time of celebration and inhibitions are left at home. There is no shortage of rum as the men try to match the women’s intensity in wining. Another unique area of Grenada Carnival is something or some people called “shortknee”.

Shortknee is similar to jab jab. They have costumes that vary by different area. They all join together in Grenville and behave bad. But shortknees wear baggy costumes with mirrors on the front. They wear fencing masks and bells on their feet. As they dance around the road, they spray powder on everyone.
Now that the jab jab and the shortknees along with most of Grenada have united, the Road March song in played on trucks passing by. Everyone is dancing behind them and having a good time. This goes until about 7pm. Then you have Monday Night Mas. People are still dancing in the streets, but now they are waving glowing sticks or anything with light on it. Tuesday is the last-lap. Whoever missed Monday is there on Tuesday. There are more people on Tuesday and it lasts until midnight. This year, Hurricane Danny threatened to cancel Carnival Tuesday. But every Caribbean knows no amount of rain can stop Carnival. They just postponed it until the following Saturday and still enjoyed their Carnival to the fullest.

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