Carnival and Jamaica...

Carnival and Jamaica...the two just don't go together in my mind.
Sometime last year, a Bajan friend and I were talking to a Jamaican acquaintance who was adamantly insisting that Jamaican carnival was bigger (not sure if she meant in size, maybe she meant most popular) than Barbados'. And that in terms of the largest Caribbean carnivals, Trinidad's was first and Jamaica's was second! The impression she was giving was that Jamaica's carnival was the real deal and Barbados' was not!

Now, even with my vague knowledge of Barbados' history I was aware that Jamaica's carnival was indeed an imported celebration much like St. Patrick's Day in the U.S. is imported from Ireland. But at the time of our mini-argument, I didn't know all the facts surrounding the origins of either carnival. And so I decided to do a little research!
According to an overview taken from the National Library of Trinidad & Tobago (www.nalis.gov.tt), T&T carnival originated in the late 1700's. At that time, white slave-owning elites (predominantly French) held balls and fancy fetes. The African and colored slaves were fobidden from partaking in the festivities but celebrated in their own way in their compounds. After Emancipation in 1838, the freed Africans took to the streets where they engaged in mocking of their former white owners by dressing up in costume and reenacting scenes from slavery.

Eventually, the festival began to included elements from the African culture like drumming and stick fighting until it evolved into what it is today. So from this account, Carnival in T&T is deeply rooted in colonial and African practices. It is anchored to the past.

Barbados' Crop Over is also tied to a tradition. The harvesting of the sugar cane crop was a time for celebration among the slave owners and the slaves and it was here that Crop Over originated. The traditional celebration was terminated in the 1940's but was revived in the 1970's by Barbados' tourism board, where it was shaped into what it is today: a celebration of history and culture.

Jamaica's Carnival, according to www.bacchanaljamaica.com, was brought to the island in the late 1989. Unlike the other two festivals mentioned before, it has no ties to any socio-historic occurence. In fact, the various articles I've found point to Jamaica's Carnival as being started by Byron Lee of soca band Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires who was impressed by the phenomenon of T&T's Carnival and subsequently decided to bring the festival to Jamaica.
From this very brief history lesson, we can see that both Barbados' and T&T Carnivals are the real deal...perhaps very commercialized today but borne out of a colonial past. Now I am not one to promote arguments with my fellow West Indians about whose music is better, etc etc. But this one argument did irk me a bit because I do sometimes get tired of the narrow-minded approach that many (not all mind you) Jamaicans take to Carnival and its culture. If you don't like it, then ok, fine! But don't go around bashing soca and carnival on one hand and then claiming your carnival to be the genuine article on the other!
As someone with a Jamaican significant other, the issue of differences between our two cultures was something we had to get over very early in our relationship. But I'm proud to say that now we both have an appreciation and respect for our countries' traditions and music. The things that makes the Caribbean great are these differences, so instead of trying to bring each other down, we should really be trying to uplift all the products of our great region. Ok..finished ranting now. :-)