Carnival

Carnival is one of the most celebrated and colourful traditions in the Dominican Republic. There are carnivals all over the country every Sunday in February and it reaches its apex on the final weekend when people and groups travel from all over the country to share and celebrate together in huge, extravagant parades. We (the PT volunteers and two of the COPA staff) headed up to La Vega (a town in the north of the country where the tradition of carnival dates back to the mid 1500s) for the final weekend in February to experience this colourful fiesta.

There is evidence of carnivals being held in the country as early as the mid-1500s. The origins of the tradition are believed to date from the time of Christopher Columbus. Slave owners and Christians would organise parades and marches for slaves so that they could get the ‘wild’ out of their system. In later years the practice of carnival became a way for people to escape from strict religious traditions and by the 1700s the practice of carnival had become a major event in the country. The celebration became yet more extravagant when the Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti on the 27^th of February 1844 which is the reason why February is the most celebrated month in the country. The celebration presents an upside down, back to front world. Men dress as women, animals dominate their farmers and (in a country which is by its constitution Catholic) the devil is the king of the carnival.

One of the most spectacular things about carnival is the amazingly extravagant costumes that the performers wear. Lots of regions in the Dominican Republic have their own take on carnival costumes and different visual interpretations of the characters that feature in the celebration. The result of this is a fairly amazing spectacle where everybody comes together to show off and share in this colourful, crazy tradition.

The main character in the carnival is ‘Diablo Conjuelo’ or ‘Limping Devil’. The story of the Limping Devil is that he was banished to earth as punishment for his childish pranks. When he hit the earth he broke his leg and has had a limp ever since. While there are many different theatrical takes on the appearance of the Limping Devil there are some similarities in all the costumes. The most important is the huge, extravagant mask that is an iconic symbol of the celebration and which is often adorned with huge horns, feathers, sequins silks and satins. Many costumes are made up of layers of brilliant material and are embroidered with tiny mirrors and bells with make the wearer sparkle in the brilliant sun. All the Devils at the carnival are equipped with a ‘vejiga’ (balloon) which traditionally was made from an animal bladder filled with air. The purpose of these vejigas is to whack unsuspecting spectators or other devils on the bottom! Whilst the animal bladders have now been replaced by large polystyrene balls, the result is just as sore and we all came away with slightly bruised posteriors!

In addition to the character of Diablo Conjuelo and others from Taino folk law, there are characters that portray different  eras of Dominican history. We saw performers painted with mud and white paint and dressed in loin cloths who represented traditional tribal Taino people who were the indigenous inhabitants of the island. The tradition has become a way of poking fun at various aspects of Dominican history and those groups who so spectacularly mishandled the island and its people. There were Spanish colonialists dressed in pompous tail coats, tights and silken waist coats. There were monks who represent the original Christians on the island who tried to brutally introduce religion to the new world and who, along with the Spanish colonists effectively wiped out the native Taino culture.

Seeing different stages of Dominican history made me realise how young the country really is. Many people say that other than carnival the Dominican Republic doesn’t have many traditions and there isn’t the same sense of culture that you find in places like Peru or even Scotland. There is no national dress or dance, people speak the language of the colonialists and aspire to look and act like ‘Americanos’. However you have to remember that the country hasn’t had the hundreds of years that a country such as Briton has had to develop a national identity. After being taken over by Columbus the DR changed hands from Spain to France and even the British had a go at ruling the place before being pushed out by the French. After finally gaining independence from Haiti in 1844 the country then endured a succession of terrible leaders the most infamous being Trujillo whose dictatorship was endured between 1930 and 1961. On top of all that turbulence there has been the ever present meddling of western powers, most prominently America, whose tactless military and political interferences has put the country off kilter on numerous occasions during the past hundred years or so (good to see that they have learned from their mistakes and have become the level headed rational global power that they are today…!).

Taking into account this turbulent history, the fact that this country has managed to maintain any sense of raw cultural identity and tradition is pretty amazing. This is a celebration of their history and a way of poking fun at the people who have expropriated their country. It’s a way for people to come together, celebrate and be crazy (well crazier that they are normally!). It’s a way for people to embrace their history to learn from it and to grow and develop into a country which is finally free from turbulence.