Guess what Carnival in Dahmineekah is like!

Happy Ash Wednesday?

Sorry this entry is a couple days late but Dominica has been in Carnival mode! I have been experiencing the PG version of Carnival this year (my host mom runs a tight ship) but it is still pretty awesome and I can’t wait to be part of the adult version next year.

Carnival season is about 4 weeks ending on Fat Tuesday with festivities through out. During Carnival season there are three big competitions; the Carnival princess show (a beauty pageant for secondary school students, a Dominican- from the Dominican Republic won this year and the real Dominicans were not all pleased), the Queen show (a beauty pageant for adult women), and the Calypso show. There are also children’s versions of both the beauty pageants and calypso competition at most of the schools. I did not attend any of these (and will probably never attend the beauty pageants as they are 3+ hours and are taken very seriously) but I watched the Calypso show on tv and it was spectacular with costumes, stage effects and choreography. Calypsos are nothing like the music we think of with calypsos- they are political, or just funny songs about the state of things in Dominica- check out some of the crowd favorites “My Pressure Up”, “Ready Made Jacket”, and “Internet Children Want It Now” (http://dominica-calypso.com/2011-calypsoes/). All of the artists are Dominicans and it’s a little like American Idol. They have several rounds and eventually someone is crowned the Calypso King- to join the Carnival Queen in the parade. A few years ago they opened the contest to women (it has traditionally been just male- as the winner is the King). This year for the first time ever a woman, Tasha P., won! The reactions have been very split. My new favorite neighbor, a woman named Agnes who took me home from mass when I was standing around confused and alone, is thrilled and yelled from her window the whole way home- “It’s woman time!” I’ve heard several other women who are quite angry about it- they think it is “not fair” that there are two women representing the Carinval royalty (I have not inquired about what makes this “unfair”, in fact it seems quite fair, but Dominica is very religious*).

Carnival parades start Monday morning at 4 am- for a parade called Jouvay (sp?)! Most villages have their own festivities and there are also big festivities in town (Roseau). My village is small enough that the parade goes straight up a hill on the main road past my house. You really have no choice but to wake up as the parade is an enormous truck playing calypsos with 12 bass speakers and 12 other speakers (I don’t know what non-bass speakers are called) driving up the street surrounded by people dancing in costumes (often bras, shorts and cut up tights) which is called “jump up.” Watching them this morning in the pitch black (there are no street lights or flood lights), under the beautiful star filled sky it was incredibly hard to not join in (You are all invited to come visit next year and jump up!). The entire two days (Monday and Tuesday where everything is closed down for Carnival) are filled with parades; one called t-shirt band where you buy a t-shirt and get unlimited drinks and follow the band on a huge truck and dance through the streets, the National parade which is the most similar to a Mardi Gras parade with floats and groups of people wearing matching costumes, and many others. I’m not sure what the rest of the parades are for but my understanding is that they are full of music, dancing, rum and fun!** Next year in Dominica!

Favorite cultural difference of the week: There is lots of love. I visited the pre-school this week and we started the day with song time. The songs were pretty great (one about Jesus dying on the cross, What a Wonderful World It Would Be, etc.) and then the teacher asked the children if they loved “Miss Ereen” which the children screamed “yes” in response to (although I had not interacted with a single child). Then the kids sang the “I love you” song (yes, from Barney) to me, which was adorable and made me uncomfortable. On Sunday I attended the Catholic Church and at the end of mass the priest asked anyone who is new to the church to stand up. A white couple in their mid-60’s from Canada (who looked very straight-laced) stood up and introduced themselves (I didn’t stand up even though I’m new because I didn’t want to be associated with the Canadian tourists). Then the priest asked everyone to sing the welcome song, so about 150 parishioners turned to look at the couple and sang “We love you, we love you, we really, really love you!” I really, really loved every moment of it.

Tune in Friday for “Hotdogs in a Developing Nation”!

* Just like in the USA, “religious” is used here as a euphemism for homophobic.

** After I finished writing this blog post but before I published it Agnes called and took me to see three different towns Tuesday night “jump-ups” which, while being PG and appropriate and involving no alcohol, were quite fun. So, in fact, I do know what the parades are about and my assumptions were correct.