It’s Caribana
by Richard Keshen
Toronto is recognized by the United Nations as the most multi-cultural city in the world, and over half of the city’s residents were born outside of Canada. Every summer, we can expect various street festivals representing many of the cultures that make up the people of the town. In the short span of two months, July and August, you could experience the cultures of Portugal, Italy, India, Africa, China, Korea and Vietnam just to name a few. But there’s one festival that’s widely anticipated which brings in more visitors , almost a million and a half. That’s the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. Formerly called, and still known by most, as Caribana. According to a recent census Toronto is home to more than 346,000 people of Caribbean descent. That’s a higher population than most individual Caribbean countries.
Carnival is celebrated in many of the Caribbean countries at different times of the year with Trinidad thought to be the birthplace of the festival. The Carnival represents the celebration of rebellion against enslavement. You see this rebellious spirit in the skimpiness of the costumes worn by the revelers and their fusion of colours. Usually the first Saturday of August usually sees the Grand Caribana Parade on our city’s fair ground. It then extends to one of our main streets leading into the downtown core that has been closed down for the parade. Mas bands, short for masquerader bands, parade through the street with each band having themes and colourful costumes. As the revellers parade through the street large flatbed trucks carry sound systems blasting out reggae beats that have the onlookers and revellers jump up. Jump up means to dance and dancing, celebration, freedom, music, food and drink is what Caribana is all about.
