Carnival Capers in Grenada
Spicemas Brings the Party!
If there’s one Caribbean island you want to ensure you visit in August, it has to be Grenada. Every August, the island of Grenada comes alive with colour, music and pageantry with one of the biggest carnivals in the West Indies – Spicemas! The biggest and best annual festival to be held on Grenada, the Spicemas Carnival attracts visitors in their thousands not just from all over the Caribbean but from around the world. The tiny Caribbean island becomes awash with colour, dancing and music and everyone, it seems, is keen to join in the celebrations.
Carnival kicks off in July on the island when various Calypso bands compete to perform in the National Calypso Monarch Competition and the island’s youth work hard to win the Junior Calypso and Soca Monarch shows. However, August is the big month on the carnival calendar with the most important week of carnival proceeded by important events such as the National Carnival Queen Show, the Soca Monarch Finals and the Panorama Steel Band Competition. The Rainbow City Festival gets the party started in Grenada’s second largest town of Grenville with a craft and cultural fair and endless parties in the streets. Carnival Sunday (13th August 2017) sees the final countdown to the Spicemas Carnival’s biggest two days with the Dimarche Gras Show where the King and Queen on Carnival are selected.
Then it’s time for the biggie – Carnival Monday (14th August 2017) otherwise known as the J’Ourvert, commencing with the Devil Mas bands parading in the early hours of the morning, dressed like masqueraders and dancing grotesquely. All part of the show, they are then followed by the playful Blue, Yellow and Green Devils who dance through the streets until sunrise to the sounds of the steel bands. The Traditional and Fancy Mas Bands come out to play once the sun has risen and with each parish of the island represented, the bands dance through the streets from their respective villages into the capital St George’s, where the main show takes place. The modern bands then parade the streets, dancing to the latest calypso sounds and the King & Queen of Carnival make their appearance. The day ends with the Monday Night Mas street jump-up where everyone wears brightly coloured clothes, waves fluorescent wands and dances in the streets until the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Grab a few hours’ sleep because on Tuesday, the party starts all over again and the streets of St George’s become filled with traditional steel bands and mobile DJ’s playing the island’s favourite songs. The party carries on long into the night until the early hours and is one of the most popular days on the Carnival calendar.
Spicemas Carnival is an integral part of life in Grenada and reflects the island’s rich cultural history and heritage. It is a wonderful experience for any visitor to the island and is a great reason to book a holiday there in the month of August.
SN Travel offer a wide variety of excellent accommodations in Grenada as well as competitively priced flights to the island. We are also more than happy to consider bespoke packages for your Spicemas trip so please do call us on 0207 254 0136 for further information.
