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Grenada Carnival - Jab Jab | Carnival Pictures | Our Culture

Grenada Carnival Terms and Pictures

Dimanche Gras: Sunday immediately preceding carnival
Jump up: To dance
Mas: A term denoting the masquerade costumes of indvidual Carnival particiants as well as Carnival itself
Ole Mas: A form of masquerade where performers wear ragged costumesand act out skits which are socially and politically satirical
Soca: A musical form that grafts the slower beat of American soul music to the upbeat tempo of calypso.
Mardi Gras: Fat Tuesday. The day before Ash Wednesday brings Carnival to its Grand finale with pageants and sophisticated costumes and special effects.
Road March King: Honour bestowed upon the musician whose new composition gets the most play by bands on the Carnival parade route, or "road march".
Ash Wednesday: The first day of Lent, a period of fasting by Christians that last 40 days and ends on Easter Sunday. Carnival ignores its original purpose as a blowout before Lent by carrying on through Ash Wednesday. Roman Catholics get a thumbful of ashes applied to their foreheads that day, reminding them that "to ash they will return".
Pissenlit: Wet the bed. Also called Pissany. This mas was played by masked men dressed as women. They wore long night-gown, often transparent and decorated with ribbons and lace. They dance a provactive dance side to side, backward and forward.
Pan: A Steel Drum. Pan originated in Trinidad in the thirties and out of the discarded oil container came the steel drum. Pan was introduced to Grenada in the 1940's. It is said that the first steelband in Grenada was started by a man named Godfrey, a Grenadian living in Trinidad. Nowadays pan has developed from a rudimentary dustbin cover and oil drum to a gleaming chrome plated pans and is now a professional art form for many musicians across the Caribbean.
Rag: A colourful handkerchief or scarf that is waved vigourously in the air to punctuate the chorus of a calypsonian song.
Fetes: Pre-carnival parties featuring live steel pan and calypso.
Belair: or Bele A drum dance invented by slaves and performed by White planters at Carnival time.