Carnival – As First Impression.
During Carnival, you basically get to experience everything.
You get to experience a country’s culture, music, food and its people firsthand! You can tell a lot about a Caribbean country by the way they play ah mas. Make no mistake, there is a line drawn in the sand when it comes to Carnival. Virtually every Caribbean country has a Carnival “product” for public consumption. Every Caribbean country wants you to patronize their Carnival and spend your money with them as you play ah mas. Moreover, the only way to find out which Carnival is your favorite, is by Island Hopping, i.e. experience.
However, as aforementioned, there is a line drawn in the sand between the Carnivals that truly embody the spirit of Carnival and those who are basically in it for the money. Admittedly, in our Capitalistic world, we all want to make money from Carnival. However, the best Carnivals offer the reveller a chance to experience an authentic passion for Carnival that refuses to leave any reveller behind.
You Can Tell A Lot About A Country, From The Way They Play Ah Mas.
Unfortunately, in 2025 and for some time now, some have prioritized making money from Carnival over providing a top tier service. Fair exchange is no robbery. An exchange of whinery is what you will find at a real Carnival. It takes two to tango and it ideally, takes two to whine!!!!!!!!!
Again, there is a line drawn in the sand between top tier Carnivals where revellers can come together from differents parts of the country/region/globe and move together as one, as manifested destiny.
Conversely, during the other Carnivals, masqueraders merely wore Carnival costumes and shared the same road whilst experiencing minimal levels of interaction. Every reveller and would be reveller in the Caribbean and outside, it would do well to remember that coming together is the real sauce that makes Carnival special.
Togetherness Is What Makes Playing Ah Mas Epic.
Conversely, anybody can throw on a costume, prance up and down on the road whilst looking awesome, whilst making sure your followers on social media see you do this. However, if that is all that takes place, then it just happens to coincide with jump up day and has nothing to do with the true spirit of mas. The true goal of every real reveller is to display top tier whinery with a top tier whiner. Nothing is better than meeting a brand new person for the first time on the road and discovering that their waistline is the truth.
Pulling up to play ah mas with a crew of top tier whiners is also, Carnival goals. However, when you came to play ah mas with your crew, you already knew you had some waistline criminals on deck. With tens of thousands of revellers on the road, it should be highly reasonable for every reveller to expect some brand new, top tier whine from someone they’d never met.
Admittedly, some people’s taste or even interest in the unknown, is different from others. Some would like and have the right, to pass, on experiencing some new whine. However, traditionally, that, is exactly what revelling has been about.
The Carnival Cross Roads.
It seems the mas may be at a cross roads. On the one end of the spectrum is ego, where Revelling is an opportunity to put on a costume and display one’s beauty, body and whining prowess. Whilst, on the other end of the spectrum, Revelling is about we, us, coming together and talking, laughing, dancing, connecting. The latter end of the spectrum is the true embodiment of the spirit of the mas.
Moreover, this end of the spectrum is actually the most lucrative end of the spectrum because connections are where the real money is made!!!! Think about it for a second. If you had to choose between revelling where you were best served by attending with your crew versus where there was a high potential for making new connections – which would you choose?
Exactly, in 2025, the ability to attend events where you can make new connections (network) by definition, are valuable events. Make no mistake, real revellers know the difference between the two and it is in the best interest of every country to ensure that their Carnival, is the latter type. Why? Well, the mas, like many other forms of business, is a word of mouth business. Revellers may post online or decline to do so, but one thing is for certain, reviews after every Jump Up goes out in real time via word of mouth and there is just no coming back from some bad experiences on the road.
The profit motive being prioritized excessively, has spoiled many a business and Carnival is a treasure that needs protecting for its survival to be ensured. The connections made from Carnival, ensure that fruit produced from this event continue to produce dividends indefinitely. Which, is the true Carnival goal, that our developing economies in the Caribbean, desperately need.
Will guess that the writing is on the wall for egocentric, anti social Carnivals because, who wants to pay money to be around people primarily focused on social media???
In the Caribbean and outside it, we revellers must decide to come together as revellers and live our best lives. Allowing the power of our Caribbean Culture to have full opportunity to add abundance to our lives. So that we can maximise and capitalise on our potential. There is no time to waste.
If the waistline is fine, it should be okay to steal a whine (on Jump Up day, of all days). Make no mistake, the Mas has the potential to make us all rich in the holistic, more than money, sense of the word. Being rich, is where we all deserve to reach.
