Can you have too many carnivals?

In Haiti they can't have too many
carnivals. However, this is largely due, according to Paul Sanaon
writing on the Mirvaldy-intelect website, due to the Haitian
politicians who “are wired to use carnival as a drug that can heal
all Haiti's sicknesses”.

He writes his blog under the title of
“Haiti: Too many Carnivals- not enough Jobs”

He cries, “To be true to ourselves
Haiti does not have carnival in the proper sense. What we call
"carnival " is simply a chaotic get-together for Haitians
with no international values." Fèt Sodo, Limonad, Laplèndino,
Tigwav toujou chaje ak moun tou" .

“It is very simplistic to gauge our
carnival's success by the number of local revellers. As a matter of
fact Haitian carnival is not among the 15 most popular carnivals in
the world. Elaborate costumes, intricate dance routines, and creative
thematic blend of past, present and future are essential criteria for
carnival success. Haitian carnival is simply a " populaire
bamboche". There is almost nothing cultural and artistic about
it. Most of the the costumes are made of imported goods. It is more
about a lot of people without uniform winning after a float with
very loud and offensive sound system. It is all about decibels ! A
war of decibels- kale yo , souflete yo, mache sou yo, me eikopte a-
Rans,” he adds.

In Dominica, DFC Consultant Val Cuffy
suggested that there are too many of the other Carnivals being staged

are competing with the Roseau Carnival. Cuffy recommends
that people should support the main Carnival which is celebrated in
the City of Roseau.

It would appear here in Cayman we have
too many carnivals but none of them want to amalgamate and there has
been a long running dispute in trying to find the time of the year
each could be staged.

The disruption to our road system with
all the other events we have here, the biggest ones being the Cayman
Marathon and Pirates Week, has caused howls of protests.

When it was left to the carnival
operators to come to some agreement on the dates that would be
acceptable to the government and the police there was no accord. So
the Cayman National Cultural Foundation, whom to my knowledge have
never staged a carnival themselves, were sworn in to sort the problem
out, as according to the Minister, they were the experts.

To my joy, however, they did and the
Minister, Hon Dwayne Seymour, in the government Press Release sent to
us today praised them for their active role in handling all the
further negotiations with all the groups.

“CNCF then formed a carnival steering
committee (consisting of representatives from each camp) to ensure we
were satisfied that an agreement with all parties could be reached,
Seymour said. “Today I am happy with those results.”

“The plan moving forward will consist
of a unified Cayman Carnival (9 to 18 May 2020), which will comprise
of an opening parade on 9 May (produced by the Batabano Committee),
Brac parade on 16 May (produced by the Bracannal Committee) and
closing parade on 18 May (produced by CayMAS). The parade routes and
road closures will be channeled to RCIPS through CNCF and then shared
with the public and businesses. There will also be a carnival
calendar listing the events that each group will host, including
those endorsed and funded by the Ministry. Members of the public may
obtain these from CNCF as well,” stated Mrs Marcia Muttoo, Managing
Director, CNCF.

So there we have it. The Merry Month of
May.

“O, the month of May, the merry month
of May,

So frolic, so gay, and so green, so
green, so green!

O, and then did I unto my true love
say,

Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my Summer's
Queen.”

By Thomas Dekker.

I wonder if there will be a contest as
to who will be chosen as “Sweet Peg”?