Martinique features the longest Carnival in the world. Each year as revelers in other Carnival hot spots wind down with the close of Shrove Tuesday, the party in Martinique keeps going, reaching a climax on one of the most solemn days on the Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday. The theme for Martinique's "bonus" days of revelry is "Rejoice Today, Repent Tomorrow."
"In Martinique, when we say 'don't stop the Carnival,' we mean it," says Muriel Wiltord, director Americas for the Martinique Promotion Bureau/CMT USA. "Martinique is more than 90 percent Christian, and the people truly appreciate the importance of the season. The bonus days are simply part of our unique cultural heritage, handed down through the generations in the spirit of good fun to keep our party going just a petit bit longer than everyone else."
The official dates of the 2009 Martinique Carnival are Feb. 22 to 25, though the celebration actually begins many weeks prior with Carnival parties taking place across the island each weekend in January. It begins on "Fat Sunday" (Feb. 22) which features daytime parades with a wide range of costumed characters performing throughout the streets. Throughout the day, marchers parade around with spectacularly dressed puppets called Bwa Bwa creating a veritable feast for the eyes.
"Mardi Gras Monday" in Martinique brings "Mock Weddings," burlesque parodies played out in the city streets with men dressed as pregnant brides or floozies and women serving as reluctant bridegrooms. Ceremonies are held well into the night, culminating in elaborate masquerade balls where drag is the preferred costume de nuit.
Shrove Tuesday is "Red Devils Day," with imagery, costumes, parties and parades themed around the Prince of Darkness. This day is all about the kids, with glorious processions featuring hundreds of children dressed in brilliant red devil costumes, carrying homemade tridents and wearing fright masks made of animal skins and horns. Red cloth jumpsuits are adorned with hundreds of glittering mirrors and small bells that jingle as the kids dance all the way to sundown. The elders carry on the party from there until the wee hours.
The arrival of Ash Wednesday, is the bonus "Day of the She-Devils" (La Fête des Diablesses) marks the climax of the celebration with more than 30,000 "mourners" gathering to mark the end of Carnival and the symbolic death of King Carnival, known as Vaval. The local media reports death notices in honor of Vaval, while festivities take place as his funeral pyre is built. Only two colors are worn -- black and white. "She-Devils," their faces smeared with pale ash or white flour, wear embroidered waist petticoats and blouses, a black skirt and headscarf made with a damask white table napkin. Mismatched black and white socks, shoes and gloves complete the traditional ensemble.
Officially, Martinique's Carnival ends at the close of Ash Wednesday. However, Carnival is revived three weeks later with a second bonus day of revelry known as Mi-Carême, or mid-Lent. Vaval remains buried, but cities and towns across Martinique spring to life again with colorful costumes, rum and parades combining again to engender non-stop revelry amid a Carnival-like atmosphere -- a mini-Mardi Gras in the land where the party never stops. The theme for the 2009 Martinique Carnival is "Masks," with a retrospective review of carnival masks throughout the years forming a central component of the festivities. For more information, call 212-838-6887, email [email protected] or visit www.martinique.org.
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