Several islands ago, we heard that Fort de France, Martinique has one of the biggest Mardi Gras parties in the Caribbean so of course we made sure to be there. Anchoring at Anse Mitan, across the huge bay from the capital city, meant we had to take the ferry. Fortunately, it was running non-stop everyday so not a problem. We were with several other Leopard boat owners and dutifully attended all four days. But unlike New Orleans or Rio, the fun doesn’t end at midnight on Fat Tuesday. Ash Wednesday is the last, and most important, day here.
In the 1700’s, Carnival was a huge event among the white plantation owners. The main events were elaborate masquerade balls that went very late into the night. Of course, black slaves did all the work of decorating, cooking and making the fancy costumes. When they went home they held their own, similar parties for many years until the slave events began to worry the whites. When the slaves were banned from having carnival, it became a symbol of resistance and once emancipation came, carnivals exploded throughout the islands with a heavy creole flavor.
Here, the overall theme is the reign of King Vaval and his servants—usually in heavy burlesque. Vaval represents conflict, evil, bad deeds, and satire. Historically, you could say and do things during this time without being punished. That’s why it is a scene of total excess. Being the King, Vaval is usually depicted with a huge phallus so that is a popular prop among the marchers. Day 1 marks the appearance of King Vaval and everyone wears bright colors. There are many vendors so costumes are easy to put together. Every day is scheduled from 1400 to 2000 hours so we arrived early and discovered that it takes a while to get going so we came around 1600 on the following days. The parade consists of 15-20 bands, quite a few costumed groups of varying sizes, painted cars and a couple of huge trucks with DJs or live bands plus floats of all sizes. As they pass, people join either a band or follow a DJ truck. They make roughly three slow loops over a four plus mile route, taking parallel streets at times which means the action can be both in front and behind you. By evening, it is just a free for all as the bands sometimes merge and the following crowds swell into the thousands. We don’t know how late it goes but we were glad to be far away from the noise each night. Tess, Patti and I were the last survivors in our initial group of 12 on day one but still left around 2100. That said, the “vidé pajama” parades are pop-up bands that start between 4 and 5 AM everyday and march through the residential neighborhoods. Residents come out and join in their pajamas and we certainly heard these on our side. No, we didn’t join one of those!
On day two, everyone wears white to celebrate Lundi Gras – the marriages burlesque. As you can tell, it is quite the eye-candy day! The “Clay Men” who hold still poses are an homage to their African heritage and the molasses covered folks, “nèg gwo siwo” represent escaped slaves. The molasses is sometimes mixed with powdered charcoal and you know when they are around as the sweet smell precedes them! They would hand slap you if you reached out to get some. John and Patti inadvertently got some on them. Tasty!
On day three, the red devils invade the streets with their mirrored horns. We figured out that many of the bands are repeats, just changing costumes each day as did Vaval. We were all talking about how well behaved everyone is, with almost no visible police presence. No drunks, no one passed out, no fights. No signs of drug use and incredibly, almost no one smoking! Our group hails from Canada, the US and South Africa and all agreed such an event in our home countries, with no security and little formal organization, would be quite different. (John once spent a Halloween in New Orleans and witnessed two shootings, seven people shot and stumbling drunks galore.) Here it is nothing but smiles, dancing and singing. Everyone we met was eager to hear we were having a great time and loving their island.
On day four, black and white or all black is the color as we mourn the death of King Vaval, whose effigy is burned that night. This is a symbolic burying of all the bad and evil. Conflict, past sins, and the scandals of the past year are over and forgotten. We had seen the huge head of Vaval parading each day but didn’t know it would be burned up. There was a mock blessing ceremony (…we think. It might have included the real bishop, we couldn’t tell.) And a dramatic recorded speech, in French of course, that ended with, “au revoir Vaval!”
Four very long, very busy, crazy days but finally we can rest. Oh wait, tomorrow is Theresa’s birthday!
