The Children's Carnival is tomorrow starting at 8am, and then the parade on Labor Day. I don't know if they have j'ouvert, but it's worth checking out.
From Wikipedia: "J'ouvert (pronounced 'joovay' locally) involves calypso/soca
bands and their followers dancing in the capital cities of the various
islands. The festival starts well before dawn and peaks a few hours
after sunrise. Part of the tradition involves smearing paint, mud, or
oil on the participants known as Jab Jabs. This is done in remembrance
of a civil disturbance in Port of Spain, Trinidad, when the people smeared themselves with oil to avoid being recognized."
I was at the carnival in Trinidad one year. The whole island shuts down for two weeks or more in preparation for this very elaborate event. It supposedly is the second best behind Rio.
WIADCA - The Official Website of The West Indian American Day Carnival Association - HOME
UPDATE: Here's a good description of this event from a Yelper, David M:
The West Indian American Day Carnival is the biggest parade in New York with over 3 million participants each year. The parade depicts elaborately designed costumes, illustrating beauty and pageantry. There are many masqueraders and huge sound trucks, some with live performers. The service roads have stands of vendors lined up selling foods, crafts, books, clothing, art, jewelry, and much more. The parade begins at 11am and ends at 6pm. There will be live performers in front of the viewing stage at the Brooklyn Library. The parade rout begins at the corner of Rochester & Eastern Parkway and ends near Grand Army Plaza where non-masqueraders can jump up with the bands.
There will be plenty of food to taste on Carnival Day. All of Eastern Parkway will be host to various dishes from every Caribbean island. There will be stands lined up along the service roads selling jerk chicken, chicken stew, fried chicken, beef stew, oxtail, rice and peas, salad, macaroni pie, fried flying fish, curry goat, roti, callaloo, souse, salt fish, fried bake, coconut bread, and much more. There is plenty to choose from, whatever your diet may be.
Powered by ScribeFire.
