The Birth & Evolution Of Trinidad Carnival

The country that I chose to conduct a culture analysis on is Jamaica. Jamaica is a third world country located in North America and the 3rd largest island in the Caribbean Sea. There is a 2.5 million population, which equally divided between urban and rural areas. The country runs approximately 146 miles long and varies between 21- 52 miles wide. The climate is tropical and its main tourist attraction is their beautiful beaches. The capital of Jamaica is Kingston, which has a population of more than 645,000. Kingston is the chief port of Jamaica and is along the southeastern coast of the island. It is covered by the “Blue Mountains”, which is thickly covered which tree ferns. The Blue Mountains experiences an average of 200 inches of rain annually, resulting in topsoil erosion and an abundance of streams. Peasants nurture coffee, usually grown on large plantations, in the valleys of the mountains. It is amongst the most expensive coffees in the world and is exported mainly to Japan.

Traditions have been around forever, and are all around us today. Holidays such as Mardi Gras, are ones deep in tradition and festive origins. This crazy holiday, has changed and grown all over the world since first celebrated. Cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and New Orleans, United States hold some of the greatest celebrations of this holiday. Here they bake, dance, parade and and throw beads all through this four day holiday. Symbols such as colors, food, and dance are some mysteries of Mardi Gras that have more meaning than many people may think. Planning of these traditions starts about six months beforehand, by groups called krewes. Mardi Gras is a holiday deep in tradition and religion that has greatly developed

According to the encyclopedia, culture is defined as “The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought [www.wikipedia.com].” In Trinidad these particular aspects are very distinct to the people's daily lives on the island. The diversity of actual cultures and ethnicities on the island has melted together over the centuries to create a Trinidadian culture of its own. There are influences from almost every part of the world including, India, China, the United States, Lebanon, Spain, Britian, Africa, and cultures native the Caribbean.

On Dia de los Muertos, the people who celebrate this holiday celebrate death. The Mexicans and Central Americans who celebrate Dia de los Muertos think that death is just another part of life, and that the people who die go to the afterlife. During Dia de los Muertos, the families of the loved ones who’ve died will create an altar for the dead person’s spirit. The families will make the altar, and cover it with food, decorations, and things that the person had once liked. Objects like a drink or food they liked, or a colored cloth representing the color, or even toys or games that the person liked before the death. The altar is covered in Las Flores. This flower is something that everyone has on their altars. Las Velas light and guide the souls to the altar.The people also celebrating Dia de los Muertos dress up like what the person looked like, or what job they had. On Halloween, people dress up as whatever they want to be to get candy, and go Trick-or-Treating. On Halloween in Europe in medieval times, the people would go out in costumes because they were scared that there were spirits roaming around. They didn’t do this “holiday” because it was fun, instead they did it out of fear. Halloween started with the Celtic pagan ritual known as Samhain. During “Halloween” in medieval times, the people believed that barrier between our world, and the spirit world was at its thinnest, and people could communicate with the dead.

Lafayette Louisiana witch is the capital of the Cajun Country. Has the second biggest Mardi Gras celebration. This celebration has lost its meaning. More of a tourist profit to the state this celebration would be a very hard challenge to get the state to bring its meaning back. In the old days, Mardi Gras was not just the day before Ash Wednesday. It was a day that people rode on horseback or in their trucks going to town’s businesses and neighborhoods. Once the owner of the homes or businesses allowed these people to come in the masked people started to sing, dance, play around or even play pranks on the people who allowed them in. Before the masked people left the begged the owners of the business or home for rice or other things. If they gave them something such as money or things to make a gumbo, they allowed that person to a gumbo feast that was held that evening. And if they did not the masked people would destroy their home or business. They might even mock them for years to come.” This group of masked people was known as classed Les Mardi Gras, or in English the Mardi Gras.” (Ware, 2003) Today Cajun’s don't celebrate it this way anymore. Mardi Gras is considered to be paradise, festivals, drinking and getting as many beads as you can. The masked people can still be seen but not asking for things to make a gumbo or money but as a symbol in the

Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America’s Creole Soul by Roger D. Abrahams is a book about the upbringing of the New Orleans Mardi Gras carnival. This is one the most famous carnivals held in New Orleans. The festival Mardi Gras “Fat Tuesday” incorporates “such events as costumed float parades, neighborhood marches or second-lines, street gatherings, informal parties, and formal balls in New Orleans, Biloxi, and Mobile, among other Gulf Coast cities and towns.” (1) The author, Roger D. Abrahams throughout his book, speaks of the carnival from all differ perspectives and compares it to other countries held around the world. He also addresses, how before Hurricane Katrina and afterwards, the Mardi Gras festival and the culture/ tradition

La dia de los Muertos dates back to as early as the maya and aztec days, nearly 3,000 years ago. “The Aztecs didn’t fear death. They believed the way a person died determines their type of afterlife.” (Sarah Massey) Families place alters in their homes with favorite foods of the deceased people, sugar skulls with their name on it, special possessions of the loved ones, and Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead). On the altar are four special elements, water, wind, fire, and earth. Candles represent fire, food represents the earth. Halloween dates back to the celt days, about 2,000 years ago. They lived in what now is known as Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. They gathered on October 31st to celebrate the end of the harvest season. The celts believed that spirits roamed the earth on this night. Celts out food out for the spirits, this was the first form of trick or treating. Some dressed up as the dead to scare away the spirits. They carved turnips and put candles in them to make lanterns. This tradition continued when the immigrants came to America, but pumpkins were easier to find so they carved pumpkins. They swapped scary stories and had a big feast. Roman Catholics began to celebrate All Hallows’ day on November 1st, October 31st became All Hallows’ Eve, later shortened to

Legend has it that while traveling, the Grand Duke became enamored with a British burlesque performer after watching her show, and he followed her to New Orleans. Merchants took this rumor and his royal arrival as a huge marketing and advertising opportunity (183). As Mardi Gras approached, local newspapers published articles expressing their concern about the lack of grand display for the Grand Duke’s arrival. According to the Times on January 31, 1872, a group of young men— “bankers, educators, and business men”—met in the St. Charles Hotel lobby to make the Carnival festivities an organized and formal event (Hales 34). Within a couple of weeks, “Rex,” or the King of Carnival, was announced.

Parading on the outskirts of Mobile while dressed up as a Chickasaw chief is how one man became an important factor in the history of Mobile, Alabama, in the mid 1800’s. Now, a day set aside for this man, parades with floats, beads, moonpies, and loud music remind Mobilians of their favorite time of the year, Mardi Gras. The carnival celebration of Mardi Gras has played a big role in the history of the southern cities Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, but the history that everyone believes about the carnival and the people that have contributed to it is not always as true as it seems.

Young slaves, and free men of color use to carry torches to light the way for floats and bands during the night of the parade (Kaufmann).Over the years, the sizes of the wagons have increased. Today, people celebrate their accomplishments; through Mardi Gras floats with complex themed designs. I think waiting for the floats can be somewhat tedious. All of the adrenaline that starts to build up just by being anxious to see the floats. The floats are very beautiful at night, whomever designed the floats took their time to perfect the ideas they had.

These traditions were connected with the lower class at the time and so they were also connected with crime, rowdy behavior and other stereotypes the upper class believed about the poor. Of course people who were part of the upper class did not like this and by the 1870s they had turned Halloween into a holiday to make children into “good American citizens.” Halloween was now targeted towards children and because of that families were encouraged to celebrate it at home where food, games and other entertainment would have adult supervision. By doing this children were expected to understand the values society holds, while also learning about their proper gender roles. At this point we are able to start to see how Halloween became so heavily influenced by gender roles/stereotypes and how that led to the over-sexualized holiday it is now. Trick or treating and wearing Halloween costumes became popular in America around the 1920s and by the 1950s children’s costumes were extremely reflective of their sex. (Bannatyne.) Girls were dressed as princesses and angels while boys were army men, hobos and so on. However, as cute and adorable as this is or may have been, this creates a very thick line between genders. When that line is present it is alluding to children that

The mass of almost one hundred thousand is edgy. The night is hot, humid, and alive with a feeling in the air so palpable you can almost trace it with your finger. The bleachers are filled to maximum capacity, along a mile-long stretch of paved roadway adjacent to an old brewery. People from all races, classes, and countries are celebrating together at the culmination of the orgiastic, pre-Lenten, hedonistic festival of Carnival. Soon, the first marchers proceed down the corridor to the booming cacophony of bass, snare, and friction drums. The rattling of tambourines, bells, and scrapers add flavor and accent. Like a bird set free, the singing cavaquinho (ukulele) emits its high pitched cries, adding to the frenzy. The marchers and

B. Topic Link: The holidays connection to it’s origins have mostly fallen by the wayside, and a number of new American traditions have developed.

The Caribbean is a vastly diverse area representing the effects of colonialism, slavery, and the combination of many cultures.

Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is a yearly open air electronic music celebration that happens in March in the city of Miami, Florida, United States (DURAN, 2013).In this report I have analysed about the ultra-Miami festival event in USA and what is behind the success of the event. Events rarely succeed or fail it is totally depending on the scheduling and who all are the stakeholders are supporting the particular event. For a successful event there are several potential goals to satisfy and a plethora of stakeholders to involve (Presenza, 2012). Festivals are mostly unique in the events sector how the stakeholders are involved in the events. Media is mainly involved in a group way in television and