Carnival on Trinidad is "the greatest show on earth" for the inhabitants of the multicultural Caribbean island, even though there are more people on the street when Rio de Janeiro or Cologne celebrate.
Nevertheless, the show put on by the 1.2 million inhabitants of the island in the period before Ash Wednesday -- next week, Feb. 25 -- is certainly world class.
PHOTO: DPA
Among the costume designers this year is Peter Minshall, the man who has created a lasting impression on an audience of millions during three opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games.
Trinidad is scornful of cardboard noses and glitzy tangas, here the emphasis falls on on creativity and innovation, and the bigger and more extravagant, the better.
Some workers give up their holidays in order to participate in the carnival as butterfly, spider, dragon, demon or modern fantasy figure in his respective Mas Group.
"Mas" means carnival, masquerade, an event where nothing is what it seems.
Virtually every village, firm or church congregation puts on its own celebration, and there is scarcely a school that has not entered its steel band for the event in the hope of carrying off the prize. Trinidad claims to be the home of the steel pan -- said to be the only musical instrument invented in the 20th century.
The costumes of the main competitors are huge works of art on wheels and cost anything up to US$5,500 -- sometimes more. Encased in a structure of meter-long poles of fiberglass, fabrics, bright colors and glitter there is a single individual dancing and moving down the street, inside his own creation.
During the run-offs and the finals, the area around the stages of Savannah Park in the heart of Port of Spain, is a bit like a Formula One circus.
Technicians are busy hammering and screwing, putting the last touches to the elaborate creations, beautiful women are generous with their kisses, while the star inspects what he or she will be wearing.
Family members, fans and sponsors are on hand to offer advice and good luck wishes, and inspectors check the structure and its rollers -- only two are allowed.
As the Mas reaches its climax on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, some 350,000 people are on the streets in the capital alone, and other towns and villages are simultaneously running their own carnivals.
The events preceding the main show start as early as January. Steel bands, soca and calypso singers, aspirants for the Mas king, queen, costume and other prizes begin rehearsals as early as the previous autumn.
"Many of us work almost the whole year round," says Winston Black, 59, one of around 250 costume designers and masque makers on Trinidad.
"Many families scrape together all their savings to buy a designer costume, rather than make do with one from the supermarket," he says at his workshop -- really the terrace in front of his home in Arima, a town near Port of Spain.
Black cuts fabric, paints feathers, sticks on glitter right through the winter in mild temperatures of 260 C in the open air. Hanging a costume onto a mannequin under the whispering palms, he inspects his creation and seems to be satisfied with it.
Later Shakir, Shelly and their mother are enthusiastic -- the children over their colorful costumes and the mother over the reasonable price -- around US$50 for each child and US$125 for the parents.
Black is at the bottom end of the designer market when it comes to price, but his creations have brought joy to many down the years.
Star designer Peter Minshall is encasing his Mas band Callaloo, one of the most famous carnival groups, in enormous creations carrying critical slogans. A top Mas band needs up to 20km of fabric for 2,000 costumes.
Minshall has also chosen the color white as a protest at the riot of color that is carnival. One of his main themes is the environment, and he also has a go at what he calls the "imitation hysteria" of the modern world while promoting tradition. Mishall believes carnival should be "theater in its most original form."
Carnival takes such a creative form on Trinidad, because the island, with its smaller sister Tobago, is a melting pot of immigrants from Africa, India, Europe and Latin America. The island's churches, mosques and Hindu temples bear witness to the diversity of the population's origin.
Ash Wednesday by no means marks the end of the party in the Caribbean. More than a dozen other islands, such as Antigua, Grenada, Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic hold their celebrations at some point between April and August.
The Bahamas, St. Kitts and Montserrat celebrate in December, remembering the slave revolts and recalling their African heritage.
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