The history of Carnival in St Vincent & the Grenadines covers many different periods. The most significant difference in the periods is in the idea of a pre-Lent festival versus a June/July festival. In pre-Lent the masque or costume as it evolved, was various things: it served to hide the identity of the reveller, to provide “dress up” for a party and to mimic the fancy dress ball of the European colonisers. Our Vincy Mas now is a June/July festival with costume bands and soca music as significant aspects of an event that is about economics and tourism.
The period of pre-Lent:
Initially Carnival was one day: the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It was a farewell party as one began the period of Lent with its fasts and prayer and no lewd behaviour of any sort. The event was of, for and by the colonists who mostly kept the Lenten observances. As we grew through Emancipation the carnival changed as the freed slaves and general working class got involved. Calypso came with music bands (string band or boom drum groups) that supported the singer to provide entertainment by humour or commentary on some ordinary personage. The elite of society were not considered as proper subject matter for these songs. Certainly no singer could win the pole for a song, which made upstanding citizens the butt of the joke. As part of the entertainment, costumes were developed. The predominant ones being the Boosie Back, the Wining Donkey Man and the Monkey Band with Kong, and other painted body variants. It may also be fair to say that this new carnival of calypso and the carnival bands were only indulged in by the worker class as they provided entertainment for the colonists. In the last days of the pre-Lent festival, Carnival grew and evolved. Costumes reflected historical and literary themes and attempted to tell stories and educate. Calypso changed and musical accompaniment was first the big band, then later electronic combos. Calypso tents held shows leading up to semi-finals. The major new thing was the steel band. The organising of the festivities was led by the Kingstown Town Board from the 1950’s to early 1960's. The Jaycees took over as the organising body from then up until 1973. This period saw the shaping of what we think of as carnival. There was Steel Pan- especially the grand Panorama competition and there was a Carnival Queen whose costume appearance was as much a factor for her winning as her personal beauty and her gown. So we generally spoke of three components of Carnival: Pan, Calypso and Mas. In the mix, but not identified as a component was the queen show.
The period of “Vincy Mas” a June/July festival:
Though there may be sub parts to the period, its noteworthiness comes from it being the June/July festival era. Many changes were made: Carnival was re-branded as Vincy Mas, there was the change of date, an official 10-day celebration period was created and management was by Carnival Development Committee (CDC). This is also when there was the introduction of Street Bars; the addition of shows such as the Junior Calypso, Miss Carival, Soca Monarch and Clash of the Bands. As we got to 2002 management of the festival was handed to a statutory body, the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC The National Lotteries Authority was given management of the Victoria Park and as a result staging has improved- pre-fabricated dressing rooms, a new stage, a canopy, new lights, steel frames for the ramps and several other physical improvements to the presentation space. The rebuilding of pavilions and improvement of the field accompany the development of VC3, our CDC TV channel. 2017 is going to be significant year as the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the change to June/July occurs with changes in the format of the festival and the opening of the Argyle International Airport in February of this year.