Creole culture being seized by wealthy EU

In Catholic countries, this period developed as one of general festivity in anticipation of the austerities of Lent. In Trinidad, the period is defined in French as Dimanche Gras, Lundi Gras, Mardi Gras (Fat Sunday, Fat Monday, Fat Tuesday).

In my view, the English historian Donald Wood describes Trinidad Carnival most aptly when he states, “The Negro Creoles kept up the allegories and harlequinades of Catholic Europe, but they also brought to Carnival the rhythms and riches of their African traditions.” This process in defined in sociological terms as “creolisation.” Wood also tells us, “There had always been prostitutes out at Carnival time but now (1840s) organised bands of them began to parade ostentatiously through the main streets with obscene speech and gestures. As a sign of disapproval, the Archbishop of Port-of-Spain gave up his custom of driving through the streets to see the festivities; the last sign that Carnival had been almost an unofficial feast of the Roman Church had disappeared.” It is an ongoing injustice and scandal that since the British Conquest, Catholics in Trinidad have had to endure every manner of discrimination, not the least of which is the destruction and misappropriation of their institutions.

First our English ruler succeeded in Anglicising a festival which they had previously tried to suppress with violence, on the grounds that such a French thing had no place in an English colony.

Then came the black nationalists who succeeded in revising the festival in terms of race. Now new modernists are subjecting the festival to further revision, replete with North American accretions.

The signs that Trinidad Carnival has moved away from its roots are quite manifest in the poor quality and historical irrelevance of the music, costuming and the overall flatness of presentations in recent memory.

Having grown up in the Catholic school system, in my own experience it was unthinkable that any Catholic could be so feint from revelry on Carnival Monday and Tuesday that he was unable to fulfil his duty on Ash Wednesday.

Moreover, the notion that non-Catholics would glibly and publicly proceed to redefine a Catholic institution is as repugnant as it is baseless. These non-Catholics can only now hope that no attempt is made to redefine their own institutions by outsiders and newcomers.

All of the above is taking place even as Berlin carnival is being promoted while showing signs of being a remake of Trinidad Carnival.

Switzerland now boasts the hang drum based on years of research on the steel pan and France is now conferring “Emmy” awards for calypso.

Against this scenario Trinidadians, ever so solicitous of foreign approval and recognition, cheer these developments — entirely unaware that the initiative regarding their own unique Creole culture, bequeathed to them by Afro-French slaves, is being seized systematically and collusively by wealthy members of the European Union. It seems that there is more to come.

Steve Escalier via email