Tobagonians make mas on Christmas morning

TOBAGONIANS were not to be left out of early Carnival celebrations as they took to the streets of Mason Hall for the annual Parang/J’Ouvert jump up on Christmas morning. With both parang and soca booming from a music truck, hundreds of people including returning citizens and tourists danced and pranced from one house to the other as they celebrated the birth of the Christ Child and simultaneously prepared themselves for the upcoming Carnival festivities.

The revelers ate and drank, making merry until the sun came up and then assembled at the Sandy River base for more food, drinks and revelry. The celebrations began two years ago and according to Joel Quashie, one of the event organisers, it seems to have unofficially found its way into the Tobago calendar of cultural events. Quashie said that they (organisers) would subsequently broaden the scope of the event which is the only one of its standard to be held on Christmas morning, in such a way that it may even be marketed abroad.