The entire country is preparing for Carnival.
To get a better understanding of what goes on before Carnival, I went on a tour of several mas camps and pan bands.
Mas camps are the places they make (and sell) costumes. Mas is short for masquerade (I think). There are mas camps everywhere and each camp has a different theme for their costumes. 
This camp (MacFarland) worked with traditional themes from the original mas - muted tones telling stories from the past. Each costume would start with an artist design... 
and then they would make the costumes by hand using bits of fabric, paper mache, wire. 
They pick 12-14 costume designs and then make a large number of them to sell and then during Carnival, they will wear them together as a group. I couldnt imagine anyone wearing this costume for 8 hours in the parade. 
There is a big competition for the best groups who 'play mas'. The camps proudly display all the trophies they have won. MacFarland had 4 cabinets like these full of trophies. 
This camp (MacFarland) worked with traditional themes from the original mas - muted tones telling stories from the past. Each costume would start with an artist design... and then they would make the costumes by hand using bits of fabric, paper mache, wire. They pick 12-14 costume designs and then make a large number of them to sell and then during Carnival, they will wear them together as a group. I couldnt imagine anyone wearing this costume for 8 hours in the parade. There is a big competition for the best groups who 'play mas'. The camps proudly display all the trophies they have won. MacFarland had 4 cabinets like these full of trophies. The next camp had a different theme - it was called 'skimpy'. 
At the camps, they encouraged you to try the headpieces on... 
Carnival is for people of all ages. This lady is a retired Professor of Nursing from McMaster. She picked out her costume. 
It rained most of the night which resulted many of the pan bands to suspend practice but we did find a small band out practicing.
It was a mix of young... 
and old players. 
They quite enjoyed practicing with 25 of us watching them. We stopped in at the Woodbrook Playboyz spot... 
and while they werent practicing, the boys were playing cards and watching old movies. It has been a long time since I've seen a black and white movie on a black and white TV. 
We also stopped in at the Brooklyn Bar. Apparently, it is on some list of the 1000 places you should go to before you die.
Make it the near the end of the list, the bartenders are protected by screens and pass your drink to you through the bars. It was a bit sketchy....but still fun.
At the camps, they encouraged you to try the headpieces on... Carnival is for people of all ages. This lady is a retired Professor of Nursing from McMaster. She picked out her costume. It rained most of the night which resulted many of the pan bands to suspend practice but we did find a small band out practicing. It was a mix of young... and old players. They quite enjoyed practicing with 25 of us watching them. We stopped in at the Woodbrook Playboyz spot... and while they werent practicing, the boys were playing cards and watching old movies. It has been a long time since I've seen a black and white movie on a black and white TV. We also stopped in at the Brooklyn Bar. Apparently, it is on some list of the 1000 places you should go to before you die.
Make it the near the end of the list, the bartenders are protected by screens and pass your drink to you through the bars. It was a bit sketchy....but still fun.B.
Your blog just keeps getting better. It inspires me to make mine a lot more exciting!!
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