THE CARNIVAL STORY
- A FESTIVAL
IS BORN
By Terry Joseph
Episode Two
Express
February 22, 2000
Page 29
It
is at least extraordinary that the two distinct social classes,
which comprised Carnival in its early years never came to blows directly, when
one considers that the very festival was born from international conflict
situations.
And
as we shall see, many of the Carnival's major developmental leaps came as a
direct result of raging battles both at home and abroad. Street fighting also stymied progress,
particularly in the steelband movement, where it most frequently occurred.
As
the grab for West Indian colonies peaked during the second half of the 18th
century, one of the more significant battles resulted in the capture of
Grenada. After being a ward of France
since 1650, the British took control of the island in 1762. One of the results from that shift in
ownership would help sow the seeds of what the world now knows as Trinidad's
Carnival.
The
French landowners had grown comfortable in Grenada, but in the wake of the
British victory, they worried about having to live with their new
administrators. Meanwhile, the Spanish,
who ruled Trinidad at the time, also became jumpy, feeling that this island
could be next on the British hit list.
Spanish Governor Manuel Falquez therefore welcomed a suggestion to boost
the population (and hence security) by inviting all Roman Catholics in the
region to come and settle here, regardless of their nationality.
In
1783, the Cedula of Population, a legal instrument from the Spanish King Carlos
IV, guaranteed the expected immigrants land and other business comforts. The plan lured to Trinidad more than 8,000
planters and slaves, almost trebling the then population. The majority of immigrant planters were
Frenchmen who, in the first wave, came from Grenada. They were later joined by more of their countrymen, this time
from Guadeloupe, Martinique and (what is now) Haiti, when the revolution broke
out in their motherland in 1789.
Having
come here voluntarily, the French were able to bring the instruments of their
culture, which included paraphernalia and music for masked balls in the Great
Houses of their recently acquired estates.
Their slaves devised their own celebrations, staged simultaneously. It was also in this scenario that calypso
had its early beginnings.
But
the original Spanish fear of British aggression was on target. Britain pushed Spain to war in 1797. They emerged victorious and took control of
Trinidad. This time, the wealthy French
families stayed put, their customs having already been entrenched. The masked balls and raucous merriment
continued as a farewell to the flesh, lasting for days prior to the religious
period of Lent. Downstairs on the
plantation, the slaves put together their own jam as well, suing drums, dancing
and mimicry as their formula for pre-Lenten fun. The free blacks took to the streets on Carnival days.
But
it was not to be fun forever. After emancipation,
thousands of former slaves joined the street parade, causing their former
masters a great deal of panic. Part of
the anxiety felt by the ruling class, was caused by the music that he street revelers
devised since most of the songs contained unflattering remarks about the
gentry.
It
was against this backdrop that the police force, headed by a succession of
expatriates, made several attempts to alter the Carnival, or stop it outright.