Can you have too many carnivals?

In Haiti they can’t have too many carnivals. However, this is largely due, according to Paul Sanaon writing on the Mirvaldy-intelect website, due to the Haitian politicians who “are wired to use carnival as a drug that can heal all Haiti’s sicknesses”.

He writes his blog under the title of “Haiti: Too many Carnivals- not enough Jobs”

He cries, “To be true to ourselves Haiti does not have carnival in the proper sense. What we call “carnival ” is simply a chaotic get-together for Haitians with no international values.” Fèt Sodo, Limonad, Laplèndino, Tigwav toujou chaje ak moun tou” .

“It is very simplistic to gauge our carnival’s success by the number of local revellers. As a matter of fact Haitian carnival is not among the 15 most popular carnivals in the world. Elaborate costumes, intricate dance routines, and creative thematic blend of past, present and future are essential criteria for carnival success. Haitian carnival is simply a ” populaire bamboche”. There is almost nothing cultural and artistic about it. Most of the the costumes are made of imported goods. It is more about a lot of people without uniform winning after a float with very loud and offensive sound system. It is all about decibels ! A war of decibels- kale yo , souflete yo, mache sou yo, me eikopte a- Rans,” he adds.

In Dominica, DFC Consultant Val Cuffy suggested that there are too many of the other Carnivals being staged

are competing with the Roseau Carnival. Cuffy recommends that people should support the main Carnival which is celebrated in the City of Roseau.

It would appear here in Cayman we have too many carnivals but none of them want to amalgamate and there has been a long running dispute in trying to find the time of the year each could be staged.

The disruption to our road system with all the other events we have here, the biggest ones being the Cayman Marathon and Pirates Week, has caused howls of protests.

When it was left to the carnival operators to come to some agreement on the dates that would be acceptable to the government and the police there was no accord. So the Cayman National Cultural Foundation, whom to my knowledge have never staged a carnival themselves, were sworn in to sort the problem out, as according to the Minister, they were the experts.

To my joy, however, they did and the Minister, Hon Dwayne Seymour, in the government Press Release sent to us today praised them for their active role in handling all the further negotiations with all the groups.

“CNCF then formed a carnival steering committee (consisting of representatives from each camp) to ensure we were satisfied that an agreement with all parties could be reached, Seymour said. “Today I am happy with those results.”

“The plan moving forward will consist of a unified Cayman Carnival (9 to 18 May 2020), which will comprise of an opening parade on 9 May (produced by the Batabano Committee), Brac parade on 16 May (produced by the Bracannal Committee) and closing parade on 18 May (produced by CayMAS). The parade routes and road closures will be channeled to RCIPS through CNCF and then shared with the public and businesses. There will also be a carnival calendar listing the events that each group will host, including those endorsed and funded by the Ministry. Members of the public may obtain these from CNCF as well,” stated Mrs Marcia Muttoo, Managing Director, CNCF.

So there we have it. The Merry Month of May.

“O, the month of May, the merry month of May,

So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green!

O, and then did I unto my true love say,

Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my Summer’s Queen.”

By Thomas Dekker.

I wonder if there will be a contest as to who will be chosen as “Sweet Peg”?