Spicemas: what actually happens, day by day

Ask about carnival here and people will name a dozen different things. Spicemas is not a single event but a season, running for roughly two weeks and building toward the two days everyone means when they say carnival.

If you are here for it, knowing the shape helps enormously.

The build-up

The fortnight before the main days is not filler. It is where much of the actual culture sits:

• Calypso and soca competitions, where the season's songs are judged and where the lyrics are frequently sharp political commentary
• Panorama — steel band competition, and a genuinely serious musical event
• Queen shows and junior events
• Band launches, where costumes are revealed and sold

The calypso competition is the one visitors most often skip and most often should not. It is the island commenting on itself in public, in song, in front of everyone including the people being commented on — and it is very funny even when you miss half the references.

J'ouvert

The thing people cannot quite describe afterwards. It starts in the dark, usually around four in the morning, and it is the oldest and rawest part of the whole season.

What happens: people take to the streets covered in old motor oil, paint, mud or chocolate, moving through the town behind music until the sun comes up. The Jab Jab tradition — devil figures, chains, horns — is at the centre of it, and it has deep historical roots that go well beyond spectacle.

Practical points if you join:

• Wear clothes you will throw away. This is not an exaggeration — oil does not come out
• Leave everything valuable behind. Old phone or no phone
• Old shoes you can walk miles in
• Go with someone who has done it before, or with an organised band
• Expect to get covered whether you intended to or not — that is the point, and standing apart looking clean marks you out

It is loud, dark, crowded and completely unlike anything else. If you are only going to do one thing during Spicemas, most people would tell you to do this one — and go in fully rather than watching from the edge.

The parade days

After J'ouvert comes the part that looks like the photographs: the costumed bands, the music trucks, the long slow procession through the streets in full daylight.

• Playing mas means joining a band in costume, which is bought in advance
• Watching is entirely normal and free
• It is extremely hot — this is the middle of the day in August
• It goes on for hours, and endurance matters more than enthusiasm
• Water, hat, sunscreen, without exception

If you want to play mas, costumes are bought months in advance through a band, not on the day. Turning up hoping to join is not how it works.

Being there sensibly

• Book accommodation months ahead. The island fills and prices rise
• Book flights early for the same reason
• Expect roads to close and journeys to take much longer
• Carry small cash and little else
• Pace yourself — it is several days and people who go hardest on day one miss day two
• Drink water constantly, alongside anything else

Joining in properly

Visitors are genuinely welcome, and there is a difference between participating and spectating at people.

Join in. Dance badly, get covered in paint, follow a truck. Nobody minds and everyone would rather you did.

Ask before photographing individuals, particularly during J'ouvert. Wide shots of a crowd are fine; a close-up of someone's face is a different thing.

Remember it is not staged for you. This is the island's own event, which existed long before tourism and would continue without it. Being a good guest at it means treating it as a celebration you were invited into rather than a show you bought a ticket to — and the difference is visible in how people respond to you.

Frequently asked questions