bacchanal again for 2010

It's that time of year again...

Throughout the year every (i think?) Caribbean island holds its own form of a carnival celebration. In St. Thomas, we hold our Carnival in April...with activities throughout the month leading to a final big week of Food Fair (today!), the opening of the Carnival Village (earlier this week!), J'ouvert (tomorrow!), two parades (children and adults this wknd), and various other activities. This year's theme is Bacchanal Again for 2010. 

Side note: I was curious about the origin of the word bacchanal, so of course I looked it up :-) The word comes from bacchanalia, which were wild and mystic festivals of the Roman god Bacchus (or Dionysus). According to wikipedia, it has since come to describe any form of drunken revelry...lol. I guess that's pretty accurate...though you definitely don't need to be drunk to have fun during carnival. 

Here's a little snippet about our Carnival:

The first carnival was staged in 1912 during the final years of Danish occupation and lapsed during World War I. Revived in 1952, carnival has become the second largest festival in the Caribbean. A month-long series of dazzling pageants and talent shows is held to choose royalty to rein over the festival. Calypsonions offer satirical commentary on the state of the islands, oftentimes mocking the shenanigans of politicians. Other popular events held during Carnival are j'ouvert - a morning jump up - a food fair presenting the islands’ best traditional eats, and a competition to crown the King and Queen of the parade troupes. A children's and adult’s parade close the lively month with brilliantly costumed and decorated troupes and floats. 

 Throughout the rest of the week and weekend I'll be posting about my past carnival experiences and memories, as well as this year's carnival celebrations.


Of course today's big chune has to be...the quintessential carnival song...aptly titled "Carnival" by my favorite soca artist, DESTRA, and Machel Montano...This isn't a VI Carnival song, so I feel obligated to give yall a double dose of big chune and include a VI (albeit Crucian) one as well ;-)





UMB and Pumpah "Boom bye bye"



:-D