Canboulay Riot Reenactment:
The Birth of Carnival.
“Everything them get,
come out ah we sweat”,
the voice of the Pier-
rot Grenade
C
arnival is the time of the
year where people come
alive and “get on bad”. They
have fun, dance, laugh and parade
in beautifully decorated costumes
and traditional mas.
That is today, but where did it
begin?
With the emancipation of slaves in
1838 the door was opened for the
full participation of the Africans in
Carnival ( a celebration the upper
class men had, that excluded the
slaves) . Canboulay celebrations
are a celebration of the traditional
aspects of their African culture
such as : their drums and mas and
also included mockery of the upper
class society. The year is 2020, 139
years since 1881 when the colonial
British government tried to put
an end to it, in the South of Trin-
idad and had to retreat. However,
the traditional mas and costume
making is alive and well. Every year
as part of the tradition of Carnival,
an opening traditional event is held
at Picadilly Greens, Port- of Spain
called the Canboulay Riot Reen-
actment. Also known as “Cannes
Brulees”, translated as “burning
cane” from during the slavery pe-
riod when slaves would be awoken
out of their sleep to cut the cane
to save it from the fire. This is the
backstory to the Canboulay Riots
reenactment that celebrates the
slaves’ fight for their freedom to
celebrate and express themselves.
The performance starts around
5a.m and gives an hour plus of
intense acting and emotions from
the performers, engaging even the
audience members in the perfor-
mance .
The seating and standing area is
jam packed with hardly any space
to move, even if you have to get
from one place to another as some
performers do, it is difficult to do .
Grandmothers and mothers were
heard shouting performers’ names
from their seats when their family
members were seen, as a way to
show their support . This is an event
for all ages, from baby to grand-
mama. People brought their babies
to interact with the masqueraders
and expose them to the culture
from young. One onlooker said she
carried her god daughter because
she couldn’t get her to stay away
from these things, “she wants to be
in everything.” Grandmothers were
out to accompany their grandchil-
dren and others were there to do
what would appear to be “maintain-
ing” an order. Disagreements didn’t
last long enough to keep them
from enjoying the event. It is quite
interesting the types of arguments
that occur, over simple things, but
you end up stifling laughter so as
not to draw attention to yourself.
This is the atmosphere right before
the event begins, however, once it
starts, everyone pays as much atten-
tion to the performance as possible.
There is a saying, ‘the early bird,
catches the worm’. If you reach early
enough, you get to the best seats
which are further up in the middle
Photography by:
Faith Ayoung
3