The Spirit of Jourvert, Essay Example

It is the witching hour of midnight and a strange quiet settles in the air. The calm before the storm. It is a brief moment for quiet reflection, even as the distant strains of party music wafts over the corrugated iron roofs. It is time to reflect on the mayhem that is about to burst onto the streets of the country. However at this special hour, it is difficult to truly comprehend the transformation that is about to take place. An entire society is about to shed the trappings of daily behavior and indulge in a bacchanal that it designed to loosen inhibitions, and throw off the trappings of Western norms. This is Jourvert, the unique commencement ritual of one of the world’s most colorful festivals, the Trinidad Carnival, when an entire nation gives itself over to a four-hour orgy of silliness, frivolity and buffoonery.

The term Jourvert is actually a contraction of the French term jour ouvert and refers to the opening ritual of the Carnival celebrations that theoretically begin with the opening or dawn of the day. Jourvert is tied to the origins of Carnival itself, which goes back to the time of slavery in Trinidad when the French plantocracy transposed many of the bacchanalian festivities of French life to the island. The slaves would observe the lavish masked and costumed balls, soirees and fetes champetres, and then mimic these events in their own compounds. After emancipation the freed slaves continued the practice. However in the absence of grand ballrooms they took their celebrations to the streets. They especially mimicked the white man’s practice by blacking up and playing a character called the negue jardin, or black gardener. This became the paradoxical image of a black man mimicking a white man mimicking a black man. In time the practice of getting dirty or ‘dutty’ on Jourvert morning became an end in itself. A process that helped the masquerader to shed his or her inhibitions. To be in the streets at 4am, half naked, slightly tipsy and covered in mud, oil, paint, grease, tar or combinations thereof, worked wonders in throwing off the inhibitions’ of everyday life. It is an experience unlike any other. Total freedom and a chance to engage in an annual binge of frivolous tomfoolery.

Carnival was initially very unpopular with the ruling British as well as the local elites. Of particular displeasure was the opening celebration that took place at midnight on Carnival Sunday which was called Canboulay and was the precursor of Jourvert. The term Canboulay was another contraction of a French term cannes brulees, and referred to the ceremony following the burning of the sugar cane residue during slavery, which heralded the end of the planting/harvesting cycle, and a much needed rest for the slaves. The Canboulay ceremony involved the slaves having a Carnival like procession from the fields back to their barracks with burning torches called flambeaux and dancing to the beat of drums. After emancipation Canboulay was moved to the aforementioned time of midnight on Carnival Sunday as a means of remembering the travails of slavery.

However the cacophony of Canboulay drumming was a particular source of displeasure with the elites and the middle classes, as was the propensity for criminal mischief in the dark of the night. The authorities made several efforts to banish the carnival, but their efforts were always met with violent confrontations. This culminated in the Canboulay Riots of 1881, after which the authorities were forced to capitulate and allow the carnival to take place. As a quid pro quo however, they stipulated that the carnival had to begin at dawn rather than at midnight. This was where the term Jourvert was born to denote the beginning of the festivities at daybreak. Over the decades the time has been pushed back to its current official start time of 4am. While there is a formal opening ceremony by the mayor of each city, in reality it is the people who spontaneously decide when Jourvert begins. They do this by spilling out into the streets when it suits them. In some instances this could be as early as 1.30am.

As the Carnival begins spontaneously by the people, so it also ends. While the official end point is midnight on the Tuesday night, it is never the state that has to enforce this termination point. In an early display of postmodern internalization of expectations, it is the people who always regulate themselves and stop on the stroke of midnight. This is all part of a complex process that goes back centuries and has always been an intrinsic though forgotten part of the Roman Catholic Easter celebrations. Most European countries have forgotten this, but the period of Easter celebrations was always preceded by Carnival. The term Carnival literally means ‘farewell to the flesh’ as in farewell to the sins of the flesh prior to a period of repentance, penance and abstinence. Therefore Carnival was always held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and was supposed to be a period of excess in every area. This came to an end on the stroke of midnight at the beginning of Ash Wednesday, which was then a day of repentance, when ashes would be worn on the head and garments in a biblical display of remorse. The ensuing forty days and nights of Lent were then a period of abstinence as a penance for the excesses of Carnival. This eventually led to the Easter weekend which highlighted the gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins. Consequently societies today who in some way celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent without the preceding Carnival are missing the overall meaning of the process. And merely giving up something for Lent is pointlessly punishing oneself for preceding excesses that never occurred.

Originally Jourvert was a very local community based affair. Every neighborhood would plan and bring out its own Jourvert band. A theme would be decided and everyone was responsible for making their own costumes. Jourvert has always been the antithesis to the rest of the Carnival celebrations. While Carnival proper is all about vibrant colorful costumes displayed in the brightness of a tropical sun, Jourvert was all about dark earthy colours worn by creatures of the night. It has often been said incorrectly that where Carnival proper was a celebration of life, Jourvert was a celebration of death. This is a misconception. Jourvert does not celebrate death, it laughs at it. The underlying theme is the biblical verse, “Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?” Inasmuch as the masqueraders, most of whom are Christian, believe that death has been defeated, it need not be feared but can instead be ridiculed. Jourvert emphasizes this sentiment as a precursor to laying down all of life’s other cares and woes for the duration of the Carnival. It is one of several devices aimed at getting each individual to shed all inhibitions completely as a prelude to really enjoying oneself.

The original costumes would be old, torn and tattered affairs made from scraps of cloth, sacking, hemp, cardboard, newspapers etc. Communities could choose any theme for their band such as wild Indians, African tribal warriors, Vikings, vampires, zombies, cavemen and troglodytes etc. However the most common type of band was the devil band. Many of Carnival’s basic characters and practices are derived from both the European theatre and European Carnivals of the past millennium. The devil has always been a stock character of both along with others such as harlequin, Peirrot or the clown, the transvestite and the prostitute. Once a neighborhood had chosen their theme it was left to each individual to create his or her own costume. In the case of the devil band this was relatively simple. Cardboard would be used to fashion a pair of horns, wire would be used to create a tail, and a light wood such as balsa used for forming a long fork. They would then be painted black and red, ready for the big morning. The band would also provide its own music. This would consist of any impromptu instrument used to create percussion. Favorites were empty biscuit tins, metal tyre rims, scratchers, wooden drums, homemade flutes, bottles and spoons, and the ubiquitous whistle. Depending on the location, Indian tassa drummers would also be pressed into service. The tassa is a peculiar instrument in that it takes unbreakable reserve to resist the urge to dance to its beat.

These neighborhood bands would then spill on to the streets at whatever time suited them after midnight. Once on the street the masquerader became king. What distinguishes a Carnival from any other type of festival is the reclaiming of the streets by the people. It is one of the very few instances where the individual has the right to take control of the streets. Any motorist sufficiently foolhardy to try and drive through a band will find himself at the disposal of the masquerader. His decision to let the motorist pass or not is whimsical. If you are lucky, and sufficiently quiescent, you may be allowed to pass. Impatience or truculence however could cost you a 30 minute wait, or worse. A particularly obnoxious driver will find his car covered with whatever makeup the masqueraders are wearing, mud, oil, paint etc. Young boys would often follow the band with a type of local broom made out of cocoyea or processed bamboo strips. As the band passed each house they would offer to sweep the front yard for a couple pennies. In time the yard boy himself became a traditional Jourvert character.

These neighborhood excursions were wonderful opportunities for community bonding. The band would parade through the streets of the neighborhood making a racket and getting up to all types of mischief. People would pour out of their homes and join the band as it passed. If you were wise you would wear some old disposable cast off, as you would be covered in make up as soon as you joined the band. The spirit of bonhomie would be unprecedented. Bands of grinning lunatics would loom up at you out of the dark and give you an impromptu infusion of rum, whiskey or vodka before going their merry way. Complete strangers would throw their arms around you like long lost relatives, share a drink and then dance down the road with you arm in arm. Silliness was the order of the day. If you were in a devil band and you came across a puddle of water, you had to presume it was holy water and jump over it backwards. Metal dustbins would be pressed into service as musical instruments and would be found several blocks away on Ash Wednesday.

Unfortunately commercialization eventually caught up with Jourvert as it did with the entire Carnival. Today Jourvert has moved from quiet neighborhoods to town and city centers. The bands are run as businesses, and you may find yourself on Jourvert morning in a band numbering anywhere from five hundred to five thousand. The role of the individual has moved from being a designer, producer and creator of his own costume and music, to being merely a consumer. I returned to experience Jourvert in February 2010 for the first time in many years. The band I chose was called, ‘Yuh Duck Cook’ and consisted of a variety of chef outfits. I booked the costume a week in advance for an all inclusive fee that included everything including unlimited food and drink, and collected it on Carnival Sunday. On Jourvert morning the band consisted of four thousand masqueraders, and this number almost doubled by 7.am. Music was provided by massive music trucks containing racks of amplifiers and speakers which blurted out soca (modern calypso) music, and the band provided everything from portable toilets, to free drinks trucks that stocked every conceivable form of beverage, alcoholic and otherwise. Breakfast was provided both before the band hit the streets and at the end of Jourvert. But most disheartening of all were the hundreds of security personnel who cordoned off the entire band with ropes so that no non paying member of the public could join. This was a far cry from the original decentralized, inclusive community based affairs. The effect though was still the same. Within twenty minutes of chipping through the streets at 3 am I felt the old and unprecedented sense of utter peace and contentment that has been noted by locals and foreign visitors alike. However something of the heart and spirit of the festival has gone out of it.

Jourvert along with the rest of Carnival once had the function of acting as society’s safety valve, by providing a safe and controlled means for society to vent its anger and frustrations. Where this was once very successful, the proliferation of crime in the country today, as exemplified by the massive security presence in each Carnival band, shows that Jourvert’s powers in this respect have declined. And yet there is still something about dancing through the streets in the early hours of a warm tropical morn, slightly tipsy, half naked, covered in my favorite Jourvert make up recipe of cocoa and cooking oil, possibly wearing a mask, and with many of your friends around you, that still serves the original purpose of inducing complete relaxation and a collective laying down of life’s burdens for a while. As Tony Robinson, (the British actor who played Baldrick in the popular comedy series Blackadder) once stated at the end of BBC documentary series on Caribbean culture, “Of all my experiences throughout the islands, Jourvert morning was undoubtedly the most enjoyable. That morning, it was good to be alive.”

Works Cited

Ali (ed) A. (2001) Trinidad and Tobago: Terrific and Tranquil, London, Hansib Publications Ltd.

Anthony, M. (1989) Parade of the Carnivals of Trinidad 1839-1989, Port of Spain, Circle Press.

Caribbean Quarterly (1988) Trinidad Carnival: A Republication of the Trinidad Carnival Series, Volume 4, Port of Spain, Paria Publishing Company.

Mason, P. (1998) Bacchanal: The Carnival Culture of Trinidad, London, Latin American Bureau (Research and Action) Ltd.

Robinson, T. (1998) Tony Robinson Goes Wild in the Caribbean, (television documentary) London, BBC.

Williams, E. (1970) From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, London, Andre Deutsch.