The season of Carnaval in Guadeloupe brings the unmistakable sounds of music from the local culture clubs to the streets like no other carnaval in the world. Every Sunday from the new year to Ash Wednesday, The islanders take turns showing off their cultural traditions. Enslaved Africans, were prohibited from assembling because of Article 16 of the “Code Noir” promulgated by the King of France, Louis XIV, in 1685.
After the abolition of slavery on the islands in 1848, they have been reorganizing by marching the streets with displays of traces of pre-colonial Arawak sounds of conches and the drumming and the singing of chants of their traditional folk music called Gwoka. In Pointe-à-Pitre “Ben Démaré" or in the sea, is a purification ritual for the “skin clubs”, which kicks off Carnaval. Young men take to the streets with traditional whips used on their ancestors during enslavement and have created a counter-culture in their display of whipping the ground - reconciling the past present, and future.
Mukwae Wabei Siyolwe was a special guest of Harry Durimel, the environmental lawyer and Mayor of Point a Pitre, and she experienced the Carnaval, or Mas as it is called in Guadeloupe, from a unique perspective. She was at Place de la Victoire on Dimanche Gras the biggest gathering of the islands, bringing thousands onto the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre in the run-up to Lent.
Photo: @durimel
PA #012
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