As the Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival fades in the memory, Carnival 2024 now takes center stage, it being the island’s premier festive event. With plans already underway, this year’s extravaganza promises to be another epic celebration of our culture, a conclusion we arrived at based on what we have seen and heard from organisers, carnival band leaders and other stakeholders. Carnival 2024, it appears, will be echoing the talking points of last year.
This is not something to boast about as last year’s carnival garnered criticism for what many viewers described as a “nudity event.” Female revellers, clad in little more than thongs and nipple coverings, left little to the imagination. The streets buzzed with exposed flesh, prompting reflection on the evolving nature of carnival costumes.
But the changing nature of costumes need not be what we experienced last year with female costumes. In other words, we hope that last year’s backlash served as a yardstick to our costume designers to change their creative style for the better, hence our anticipation of a high level of creative talent from costume designers this year. And by creative talent we refer to the ability of costume designers to invent and develop original ideas in that particular artform, costumes designers who think outside the box to identify styles and patterns not yet used in our carnival, meaning creative persons who possess a unique way of seeing our carnival outside the lens of sex and lust.
We believe that creativity can enhance any job and that our costume designers can find their creative touch to bring the glittering styles of costume wear of yore back, even to greater heights today, and still remain competitive in this rapidly changing landscape of costume making.
The ubiquitous panty-and-bra ensemble we have seen dominating carnival bands of late should spur us all in advocating for better-designed costumes. Wholesale vulgarity should find no place in our festivities, especially in a predominantly Catholic country like Saint Lucia.
While we recognise the changes that have unfolded over time in carnival, we also are aware that some things remain constant. And by that we mean our traditional love for carnival which has remained unchanged. However, we should change this practice of the wholesale import of revellers’ costumes, particularly those worn by females.
Carnival, rooted in cultural heritage, deserves understanding and appreciation. Unfortunately, some adults view it as a license for public nudity, licentious behaviour, and shameless antics. Alas, the authorities remain silent during this season, allowing scantily clad women to parade without consequence.
Sadly, this type of absurd dressing is passed on to our children who now think that beauty and looking good comes with a high degree of exposed skin.
We will continue to call on the church, which has been consistent with calls for modesty, even during carnival celebrations, to continue to speak up on this. After all, Saint Lucia, we repeat, is still a mainly Catholic country.
No more should our carnival be accepted the way it has been over the past few years. We need to change it for the better. The way it is today is degrading, not uplifting.
It is time for us to reclaim the spirit of carnival, preserving its essence while embracing creativity and respect. Perhaps then, absurd displays will yield to a more dignified celebration.