We arrived in Fort-d-France just in time for Carnival. In short, this is a large, island wide party for 5 days. I think there is only one official holiday on the Wednesday but the festivities start even as early as Saturday and go strong through Wednesday. Each day has its own theme but basically all about Ying/yang, good/evil, balance etc.

Many of the organizations and groups spent months planning and building their props and costumes for this event. On Saturday, the various organizations revealed their costumes and themes to the world during the initial parade.

Traditional…..

….and colourful….

….. and wild…

Everyone was involved…. Even the children.

Everyone participated…. Even our fellow cruisers from Aphrodite.

 

 

One of the overall carnival themes is that men dress up like women. While this seems odd, the entire country does this so everyone from the children to the elderly get into the groove. Some of the costumes were….. well…. somewhat burlesque…… Many of the scenes simply can’t be unseen……

By Sunday, things got into the groove…… Drumming bands were very prevalent. It is incredible how the bands can create such complex music with just drums and percussion and stay in sync while marching in a parade in big, clumsy costumes.

Some groups were very elaborate….. Check out the size of the drums they were carrying for hours at a time beating in sync……

Some couples were quite into the carnival with much time and thought put into their garments.

Team Saphira Blue and Team Aphrodite presented our little princesses to the festivities…..

In the spirit of Yin-Yang, our other side came out as well….

Our friends from Aphrodite, Northern Star, UJam’n and Toodle-oo all joined in…..

Even the US President, Donald Trump made an appearance…. His arms are rather tanned…..

It was an awesome party!