Trinidad and Tobago’s annual Carnival festival — the biggest and best in the Caribbean, and one of the top public celebrations in the world — varies from year to year depending upon the Lenten calendar. Carnival in Trinidad originated from the early post slavery days when their were French and English rule. The Festival Carnivale was started as a freedom of expression that the slaves of the time used to express their experiences of the slave trade that they experienced. With this came the costumes, and elaborate displays as the years progress.Fetes (or parties) Sunny Side up (breakfast party) street party
Calypso competitions – Soca Monarch
And two more: http://youtu.be/sYCHOK36o3s and http://youtu.be/xn2rfMuKOSA
Here are some of the band launches (for masqueraders to play on the streets in full costume likened to Rio) and the actual parade on the road by several bands Tribe (one of the exclusive bands to get into).
Mas Band king and Queen Competition Dimanche Gras
Calypso Competition – below is the winner for 2011:
Here are a few other useful links for Trinidad travel planning:
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
