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FETE FUN
GUADELOUPE
USP: SUPER HIGH-OCTANE FULL-ON FUN
Guadeloupe’s Carnival fever is
infectious, interrupting the daily grind
to preoccupy an entire island for two
long weeks. Jobs are left half finished
and factory lines are static so that
the mundane can’t interfere with
the partying. There is much excited
anticipation in the months, weeks and
days that lead up to the main event.
During this time, processions take
place every Sunday island-wide, as
each village elects a Queen and Junior
Queen. Then it’s time for the island to
erupt with increasing intensity. Teams
of rabble-rousers encourage people to
let their hair down and armies of ‘Party
Police’ threaten anyone resting with
handcuffs and a night in the cells.
Dimanche Gras (Fat Sunday)
heralds the official start of festivities.
Guadeloupe’s parade-goers start
congregating hours ahead of the
first procession, called by the conch
to gather by elaborately decorated
floats, food vans and growing crowds
of dancers. The open-bed pick-up
trucks start testing their speakers
before 2am and, long before it’s
light, the crowds make way for guys
draped in cow-hides, cracking whips
against the pavement and beating tin
cans loud enough to raise the dead.
Pummelling goatskin drums and
plastic barrels is a ritual that will drive
away evil spirits.
Guadeloupe’s Carnival features
a comical interpretation of the
‘burlesque wedding’: a Monday parade
that depicts role-reversal marriages.
Men wear wigs, heels, gowns and
make-up to dress as brides, while
women don tuxedos. Each year this
procession has become increasingly
daring and politically motivated. It has
also slammed domestic violence and
poked fun at the one-sided union of
France and its islands.
Tuesday is the Red Devil’s
Parade, which is a byword for
mischief and naughtiness as
scarlet-clad revellers rampage through
the crowds. Tales vary across the
French Caribbean, but Guadeloupe’s
devil and similarly frightening
characters serve as a jokey warning not
to upset Catholic Church elders.
African ancestors and French
colonial forefathers are targets for
honour or mockery, too. The dancers
smeared in red clay, the nègs gwosirop
(revellers covered in sugar and
charcoal) and the mariann lapo fig
clad in banana leaves – all represent
stories of slave oppression,
rebellion and emancipation. Then
there are the Moko-zombi, a
tambourine-slamming troupe
of bare-chested ghosts on
stilts who pass around a jug
of super-strength rum.
TIP
Prepare for
some serious
partying – you’ll
have a more
enjoyable time
if you put in
the training
beforehand.
IT’S UNIQUE
Burlesque
marriage on
such a scale
– each year,
the procession
has become
more risqué, to
highlight issues
of gender and
LGBT rights.
“FOR ME,
THE MIX OF
MODERN AND RISQUÉ
AND TRADITIONAL
AFRICAN-FRENCH IS JUST
RIGHT. IT UNDERPINS THE
REVELRY AND GIVES
THE NON-STOP
PARTY-PARTY-PARTY
VIBE CONTEXT.”
HUGO MARTIN
FRENCH TOURIST
Right:
Ruffling feathers:
a dancer in glittering
costume shakes her
stuff in Pointe-à-
Pitre, Guadeloupe
AWL IMAGES
56 | ZiNG CARIBBEAN
www.liat.com | January - February 2020