Carnival bands set for Saturday road march
And while the entertainment scheduled for this weekend is long and varied, on Tuesday night, our Carnival correspondent Ann-marie Williams hit the streets to get the latest from the “maas camps” in Belize City. And she found out, Saturday’s show will be filled with colour and creativity.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Preparations for the annual carnival road march on Saturday are winding down and nowhere was that more evident than on the second night of maas camps in Belize City. At the Black Pearl camp on Dean Street, co-ordinator Kendra Buller and her players were eagerly watching for the “big truck”.
Kendra Buller, Coordinator, Black Pearl Camp
“The children have been out here from four o’ clock waiting for the truck, you know. I have to tell them hold on the truck is going to come. It’s an event that they look forward to. They have on their T-shirts and they know it’s time for them to display their band, their dancing so that people could favourite them on carnival day. So they’re very excited, and I’m also excited to show what we have in the making for carnival day. To let the people see that Black Pearl is ready. We’re coming out strong, we’re coming out to entertain Belize.”
A former masquerader, Buller is back this year as the band’s coordinator.
This weekend, the Black Pearl Junior band will hit the streets with four huge costumes and eighty-three masqueraders in tow. Leading them will be King Maximos, Queens Isis and Black Widow. Their theme “Let the Spirit Flows” is rooted in fantasy but grounded in reality.
Kendra Buller
“We have a section that is good over evil so we have spooky colours that will frighten the kids but it’s very beautiful, Ann. We have Queen Isis, she will be the costume that is silver and white and that is the good. We have a second queen which is the Black Widow, she represents the evil. So Queen Isis comes to take over the entire land over Black Widow.”
Dorla Vaughan, Owner, Black Pearl Jr. Band
“I think a lot of evil the happen ina the country right now. So we must have to put some good over evil. Something must wrong with the lotta killing and you know, stuff like that, so we have to set some good things over the evil make this violence ina the streets stop”
The face behind the Black Pearl band for almost two decades has been Dorla Vaughan. Today she’s faced with increasing pressure to enter a senior band in the competition.
Dorla Vaughan
“I promise to have a senior band next year because they keep asking me. They don’t go and dance with anyone else because they want me to do a senior band. All I want them to do, for the judges to be fair and give you what you should get. I cannot stand favouritism in the carnival. The carnival gets out of hand with this favouritism stuff.
From Dean Street it was on to Mayflower Street to meet the Southside Masqueraders where the band was doing more than just putting the finishing touches on the costumes. Marsha Smith, band leader for the six year old group was in charge of cooking mud in a large bath pan in preparation for “jouvet mawnin”.
Dorla Vaughan
“The process of doing the mud, we boil it and when we done boil it we have to strain it and straining it get da lotta sand off cause we have to get it smooth. The red clay, we have to bring it smooth, you can’t do the sand cause the sand will irritate you and with the paint in it. So we have to boil this mud like sometimes, all day.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“So how long have you been boiling this?”
Dorla Vaughan
“Well from this morning nine o’ clock and we still have wa lotta big lumps in deh and we have to stay the pour water so imagine the amount of water we use.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“After you finish boiling, what are some of the other things you add to it?”
Dorla Vaughan
“Well we add the paint, we have lee scent thing we put ina it fu mek ih noh smell. But it’s nice, and I think Belizeans the get into it.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“And you take it out in small containers?”
Dorla Vaughan
“Yes, we kerr it in small containers, little buckets, different colours.”
Jouvet is scheduled to begin at four am at the foot of the BelCan bridge in Belize City.
But come carnival time, the Southside Masqueraders will be sixty strong under the theme “the Past, Present and Future”.
Marsha Smith, Leader, Southside Masqueraders
“This white represents the future, we hope the future could always be bright and could always light up and colourful like this. The red for the present and the black is the tears and the bloodshed, everything. The black is for the past.”
At one point, the band included a junior group but according to Smith, that’s something she has decided to leave in the past.
Marsha Smith
“We left the junior because it’s too much harassment. And like we said, the money and the prize you’re winning Ann, it’s not fair, it’s really unfair. Cause when you done get up and spend wah thirty, forty thousand dollars pan costumes, three thousand five just don’t cut it. and to be real, we don’t get sponsors, so you know, we pockets dry. And thanks to Benny’s always, we have to big up Benny’s, everyday. This is one of our biggest sponsors besides our committee.”
While the debate over whether carnival should be a part of the September celebrations will go on for years to come, it is clear that the event has taken a special place in the hearts of many Belizeans.
Marsha Smith
“It’s fun, entertainment. You enjoy yourself. You meet new people and have fun.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News Five.
