Carifiesta () is an annual

Caribbean Carnival Caribbean Carnival is the cultural celebration held annually throughout the year in many Caribbean islands and worldwide. It's a highly anticipated festival in the Caribbean where locals and visitors come together to dance, savor cultural music, ...

held in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It was established in 1974, and is held in July. The parade was cancelled in the 1990s due to conflict and firearm-related crime. As the situation progressed most of the participants moved to Toronto Caribana. In 2010 the parade was called off due to a legal battle between promoters Henry Antoine and Everiste Blaize, the city of Montreal. This resulted in many groups pulling out and a struggle to maintain a street parade. The organization put in place in 2019 a new liaison: Jason Forbes, who resigned in 2021 because of profit and organization issues. In 2023 The parade was cancelled. The city of Montreal denied funding the parade. The event is coordinated by the Caribbean Cultural Festivities Association, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

. Carifiesta was established prior to some

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

s that take place in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, for example, Cayman Carnival Batabano. Carifiesta has also been named the largest North-American running

Street Parade The Street Parade is a techno music festival in Zurich, Switzerland. With around one million attendees, it is the world's most attended technoparade. The Street Parade takes place annually on the second Saturday in August. Officially a demonstr ...

. Carifiesta does not celebrate any singular

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, rather it is meant to celebrate them all coming together. It features culture, music, art, and carnival costumes. Many

people or people of

descent find that Carifiesta is a way for them to celebrate their heritage away from home.

Events

Parade

The main feature of the carnival is a

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

along Saint-Catherine Street with people representing various countries in the

Flatbed truck A flatbed truck (or flatbed lorry in British English) is a type of truck the bodywork of which is just an entirely flat, level 'bed' with no sides or roof. This allows for quick and easy loading of goods, and consequently they are used to trans ...

s carry disk jockeys playing

turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

Soca music Soca music, or the "soul of calypso", is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1970s. It is considered an offshoot of Calypso music, calypso, with influences from Afro–Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Afro-Trinidadian a ...

and

calypso music Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from Afro-Trinidadians during the early- to mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back ...

are played on speakers. The participants in the parade, dressed in colorful costumes, wave flags, blow whistles, and dance.

Junior Parade

A Carifiesta junior carnival, for children aged 2 to 16, is held one week prior to the main parade, and is intended to introduce children to Caribbean culture. The day after the main parade is the Carifiesta Cooldown, held at

Parc Jean-Drapeau Jean Drapeau Park (formerly called ''Parc des Îles'') is the third-largest park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises two islands, Saint Helen's Island and the artificial island Notre Dame Island, situated off the shore of Old Montreal in ...

, which is a family-oriented event featuring performances by local and international guest artists. 2017 was the 5th year that the junior carnival took place. The parade officially begins at noon, at the Bill Durnan arena, and ends at Van Horne Park. Carifete 2011

Costumes

The costumes worn at Carifiesta are similar to those of other Caribbean Carnival celebrations. They are designed to show a lot of skin and feature bright colors, beading, and exotic headdresses. Women will typically be seen in bikini-style outfits, covered in gems, beads, and sequins, and adorned with feathered headdresses to match. Male costumes consist of decorated, and colorful shorts, paired with beaded neck pieces. Costumes at Carifiesta vary from the typically skin-bearing costumes, some people will wear costumes with a more obvious theme that will offer more coverage. Some dress in apparel that comes from the era in which their ancestors were enslaved, to call attention to their heritage. Since 2014 there have been more carnival bands doing Jab covering their bodies in oil, mud, paint, ink similar to J'ouvert-style costuming.

History

In 1995 the parade was cancelled due conflict and gun shootings. In 2010 the parade was cancelled due to conflict, as Henry Antoine and Everiste Blaize disputed how and by whom the parade should be organized. The two promoters were not able to resolve their differences and work together. Several years later they were still unable to come to terms. In 2013 Blaize was again in conflict. The issue escalated when partners where not happy with CCFA. In 2016 the parade went on with less than 100 participants in costume and less than 10 floats also the organization is financially unstable. The election of Jason Forbes took place in 2018 and he struggled and worked extremely hard to bring to community together. But it was too late with the beginning of the COVID pandemic Jason Forbes announced his resignation on June 1 2021.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Montreal Carifiesta
Afro-Caribbean culture in Canada Black Canadian culture in Montreal Caribbean-Canadian culture in Montreal Music festivals in Montreal Parades in Canada Festivals established in 1974 1974 establishments in Quebec Carnivals in Canada Black Canadian organizations