8
M
Jab Molassie AKA Blue Devil
The blue devil is one of the longest surviving
and most traditional carnival characters in mass
today successfully withstanding what Trinidad-
ians call ‘pretty mas’. The devil was traditionally
brown due to being covered in molasses. He was
traditionally smeared with tar, grease or lard,
but to spare the use of these ingredients and
for Paramins lack of cane blue paint was used
as a substitute. His sole goal is to collect mon-
ey and threatens to besmear his victims if they
don’t pay him off. The Jab Molassie is often seen
dancing and performing to the sounds of steel
drums or fire biscuit tins.
as
Playing Mas is one of the most important
elements of carnival, this is played by tra-
ditional characters or extravagant cos-
tumes. Bands in the carnival are a group
of people who get custom costumes made
by designers and go out in groups with the
band they are playing with. They dance
alongside other mas-goers to steel pans,
soca bands and other instruments. Bands
are the core elements of mas groups, they
choose a new theme each year and make
their costumes around that theme. They
can have from 3000 to over 9000 mas
players in their band.
A lot of bands and individuals choose to
incorporate the original carnival charac-
ters into their group or they come out as
individuals in the streets.
Look at the next page for tradi-
tional caracters:
La Diablesse
Danielle Latouche &
Lashala Mitchell
24th Febuary 2020
Port Of Spain
The La Diablesse is a character from Trinidad-
ian folklore which was adopted into carnival.
The folklore says that she was born human
but had deals with the devil which made her
a demon. She is known to be a very beautiful
woman who wears a big voluminous skirt,
a head tie and a wide hat. She is also said to
have cow feet. She appears on the night of a
full moon and waits on a path where men are
likely to walk. She casts spells on her male
victims and leads them into a forest. She then
disappears leaving the men confused, The men
will then run around the forest lost and scared
until he falls into a river or gets eaten by dogs.
Stacy Mohammed
24th Febuary 2020
Port Of Spain