Trinidad and Tobago Carnival

The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago. The event is well known for participants' colorful costumes and exuberant celebrations.

Carnival is the most significant event on the islands' cultural and tourism calendar, with numerous cultural events such as "band launch fetes" running in the lead up to the street parade on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. It is said that if the islanders are not celebrating it, then they are preparing for it, while reminiscing about the past year's festival. Traditionally, the festival is associated with calypso music; however, recently Soca music has replaced calypso as the most celebrated type of music. Costumes, stick-fighting and limbo competitions are also important components of the festival.

Carnival as it is celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago is also celebrated in cities worldwide.These including Toronto's Caribana, Miami's Miami Carnival, Houston Carifest, London's Notting Hill Carnival as well as New York City's Labor Day Carnival to name a few.

Carnival

Carnival (see other spellings and names) is a Christian festive season that occurs before the Christian season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typically involves a public celebration and/or parade combining some elements of a circus, masks and public street party. People wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and join a social collective. The celebrations have long been associated with heavy alcohol consumption. Other common features of carnival include mock battles such as food fights; social satire and mockery of authorities; the grotesque body displaying hybridized or exaggerated features such as large noses, bellies, mouths, and phalli or elements of animal bodies; abusive language and degrading acts; depictions of disease and gleeful death; and a general reversal of everyday rules and norms.

The term Carnival is traditionally used in areas with a large Catholic presence. However, the Philippines, a predominantly Roman Catholic country, does not celebrate Carnival anymore since the dissolution of the Manila Carnival after 1939, the last carnival in the country. In historically Lutheran countries, the celebration is known as Fastelavn, and in areas with a high concentration of Anglicans and Methodists, pre-Lenten celebrations, along with penitential observances, occur on Shrove Tuesday. In Eastern Orthodox nations, Maslenitsa is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent. In German-speaking Europe and the Netherlands, the Carnival season traditionally opens on 11/11 (often at 11:11 a.m.). This dates back to celebrations before the Advent season or with harvest celebrations of St. Martin's Day.

Trinidad

Trinidad (Spanish: "Trinity") is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies 11 km (6.8 mi) off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. Though part of the South American continent, from a socio-economic standpoint it is often referred to as the southernmost island in the Caribbean. With an area of 4,768 km² (1,841 sq mi)

Many believe the original name for the island in the Arawaks' language was "Iëre" which meant "Land of the Humming Bird". Some believe that "Iere" was actually a mispronunciation or corruption by early colonists of the Arawak word "Kairi" which simply means "Island". Christopher Columbus renamed it "La Isla de la Trinidad" ("The Island of the Trinity"), fulfilling a vow he had made before setting out on his third voyage of exploration.

History

Caribs and Arawaks lived in Trinidad long before Christopher Columbus encountered the islands on his third voyage in 1498. Tobago changed hands between the British, French, Dutch and Courlanders, but eventually ended up in British hands. Trinidad remained Spanish until 1797, but it was largely settled by French colonists from the French Caribbean, especially Martinique. In 1889 the two islands became a single British Crown colony. Trinidad and Tobago obtained self-governance in 1958 and independence from the United Kingdom in 1962.

Trinidad and Tobago

Coordinates: 11°N 61°W / 11°N 61°W / 11; -61

Trinidad and Tobago ⁱ/ˈtrɪnᵻˌdæd ənd toʊˈbeɪɡoʊ/, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is a twin island country situated off the northern edge of South America mainland, lying 11 kilometres (6 mi) just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and 130 kilometres (81 mi) south of Grenada. Bordering the Caribbean to the north, it shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Grenada to the northwest, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west. The country covers an area of 5,128 square kilometres (1,980 sq mi) and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, with numerous smaller landforms. The two main islands are divided into nine regions, and one ward. Sangre Grande is the largest of the country's nine regions, comprising about 18% of the total area and 10% of the total population of the country. Trinidad and Tobago lies outside of the hurricane belt.