Bands get ready for Carnival

Most of us are familiar with the spectacle of the Carnival Road March, which for several hours each September thrills us with its colour and energy. But there’s a lot more to Carnival than a single parade. In fact many participants will tell you that the real fun comes in the preparation. Ann-Marie Williams, on special assignment for News Five, has the story.

Anne-Marie Williams, Reporting
It’s about the hype brought on largely by the soca music which belts from the huge speakers on the trucks along with the blending, clashing and merging of vibrant colours all in the heat of the afternoon. In short, it’s carnival in the old capital. And at no other time is the preparation grander than on the nights of maas camp.

Marina Welcome, Director Jump Street Posse
“Maas camp is the hypeness. You get hyped for carnival day, you get ready. The people come to see the beautiful costumes, the colours and everything and that’s where the spirit of the carnival gets started.”

The first of three nights of camps started on Monday in the village of Hattieville. Sadie Martinez, chairlady of Hattieville Village, took on the task of bringing the spirit to the village.

Hattieville is new to carnival since this is the first time it is entering a senior band in the competition.

Sadie Martinez, Director, Hattieville Hot Peppas
“We just decided fi mek the marine life wa part ah our band because then da something you know, weh yoh protect and yoh cherish yoh know; so we decide fu bring out the marine life.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“How many people are in your band, and what are their ages?”

Sadie Martinez
“We have thirty people in our band. We have from ages seventeen to thirty-four years.”

Kendra Hamilton who works as a security guard is a resident of Hattiville and decided to leave her original band “Southside Masqueraders,” to join the home team, the “Hattieville Hot Peppas.”

Kendra Hamilton, Reveller
“I the wear this seahorse yah with wa blue top and wa blue bottom, with the boots and everything, and I expect that that we are coming out with joy and happiness.”

Albert Hendy, King Stingray
“I’m dancing the stingray you know, and the stingray is a most important part in the sea because we are so beautiful in the sea, especially when we’re flying.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“Is this your first time in carnival?”

Albert Hendy
“Definite, and I’m enjoying it; not because of a prize or anything. I’m just here for the fun.”

And while Albert Hendy is all about fun Martinez finds a lot of stress in her quest to bring some entertainment to the village.

Sadie Martinez
“And I feel everybody shoulda come together as wa community and let it be a success but it’s very poor and the sponsorship also poor. Because many a time I find myself going into my pocket but as I said it’s something I love so ih noh really matter to me.”

It does matter to Martinez’s daughter who knows first hand the trials carnival brings but is not giving up anytime soon. Nadine is only one of three daughters in the carnival. For the Martinez’s, it’s a family affair.

Nadine Kerr, Reveller
“Trying to get everybody together at one instance, people they will show up one night and the other night the other half won’t show up, so it’s really difficult. And you have to be up late making the costumes and getting things together for the road march. It’s coming up so we have to be ready.”

One group that the road march will not pass by is Marina Welcome’s Jump Street Posse. Her junior band has sixty-five members while she’s shooting for 100 in the seniors. After going at it for almost twenty-five years with countless wins in the King and Queen competition she has the carnival thing down to a science. This year she’s saying no to guns and HIV/AIDS.

Marina Welcome
“We have to stop the violence. We need to put the guns down, right. Because all that is happening is young people killing young people, right. So we have to stop it, so what I’m depicting this year is ‘Stop the violence, give peace a chance’, and I wish the public will get the message that I’m sending to them and do stop the violence. The senior band is ‘Live and let live, protect yourself against HIV and AIDS’. If you’ve noticed couple ah days in the news, our HIV status had went up right. We have to practice safe sex, we cannot move away from it, we cannot hide it. It’s reality, so we have to keep our statistics down. Use a condom every time you have sex.”

She scrapped an environmental theme “Under the Sea,” in place of saving valuable lives.

Marina Welcome
“The first section—I will take you in the costume room for you to see—is a beautiful lime green and that’s giving you all about love and vibrance. The second section is a lot different colours to try and show a little bit of love and harmony in our lives and the third section is red and black. The reason I chose red and black, the red is for the blood for the mothers who keep crying for their sons and the black is for the Lord’s Ridge Cemetery that keeps getting full.”

The senior band tells perhaps the most pertinent story of all when we realise that Belize has the third highest HIV infection rate in the Caribbean.

Sadie Martinez
“The gold, with my daughter’s costume is “Desire”, the Goddess of Temptation. She tempts you into having sex and if you like it you will have unprotected sex. Then there’s “Lola”-the Goddess of Love, she is also a temptation. You have to be very careful because everything you see shine is not gold, so you have to be very careful. Then you have “Condom City.” That is the area that’s very important, protection. And the final one is the Angel of Death, because if you don’t protect yourself you will die.”

Revellers of Jump Street will literally jump the carnival with the memory of all the young men who died from the bullet of a gun.

Looking on from the outside it’s easy to forget the cost involved in preparing all ten competing bands for this Saturday’s road march.

Sadie Martinez
“Carnival do cost you a lot of money. Marie, I put my personal pay cheque into carnival.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“I believe, but tell me how much is it costing more or less?”

Sadie Martinez
“The junior band run me like fifteen thousand dollars. You remember I had Miss Big and Beautiful Pageant, I made ten thousand off that. the senior band is running me about forty thousand dollars. It’s very very expensive.

Justin Gill, Jump Street Sr. King
“To me Carnival is very expensive because you have to pay for your costume and if you don’t have the money or are not working, you have to go around asking for donations towards a costume. And for the big costumes especially they are very expensive. They are about a total of a thousand five, for one costume and that doesn’t count for paying to make it, that’s just for material and stuff. For making it, it’s a different price they charge to make it.”

And the price to pay to become a member of the band certainly pales in comparison to the lasting experiences the event brings, for all ages.

Reveller #1
“Well, it’s obvious. I like dancing; I like to party. So, that’s what I do.”

Reveller #2
“I like carnival. I like it because you get fu dance and then your parents go out ans sih yoh when yoh the do your thing.”

Justin Gill
“The hypeness, the fun, the energy of the people and especially the different colours, the display of different costumes and having fun with friends.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“What are you wearing this year?”

Justin Gill
“This year my costume is Black Order, the angel of death.”

Sadie Martinez
“What we plan is just to go out there and nice up things real tight.”

Ann-Marie Williams for News Five.

In the senior category the first place band will be awarded three thousand five hundred dollars, second place two thousand five hundred dollars, while third will dance away with one thousand five hundred dollars. First place in the junior category will take home three thousand dollars, two thousand dollars for second and one thousand dollars for third. Ann-Marie and Ava Lovell will host Channel Five’s live coverage of the Carnival Road March on Saturday afternoon.