Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-11-08
A'PEEP AT CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Carnival Customs Of The West
indian Peasants.
Odd blending of Latin FroIic, savage
Love Of the GrOtesquc ana the
Fcrvor of Rcligion-Boistcr-
pus Fast Days.

hlbts In his language, customs, beliefs
and habits a mingling of the four races 10
Il remarkable extent and in many a queer
way
Some of his pecularities are readily
traced to a French source, while othc. -
date back to the ancestral African savas :
or cannlbal Carib, but by far the greater
number are, like the native, of mixed
origin.
Perhaps in no way does he so plainly
| exhibit the inherited customs of his fore
| lcars MS in the manner in which he cele-
nrates his feast days and holidays.
OF undoubted French origin are the Gus
toms observed on All Souls Day. On this
day the annual cleaning of the cemeteries
takes place and ali trash. weeds and az
cumulaied rubbish of a year is carefully
r;tted up until the ordinary unkempt and
di,crdery graveyards look neat and at
| tractiVe.
Then in the afternoon from far and near
come women and children bearing candles,
candelabra. flowers. wreaths and other
ornaments, until the cemetery is throngei
with a motley. gayly dressed crowed Of
natives.
The candles and wreathS are arranged
on the tombs and graves, sngly. in pal IS
| or in dozens, according to the means of
the donor, and, having been it, the crowd
awaits the arrival Of the priests and AGO
lEtes, who march back and forth among
the graves, sprlnkling holy water, waving
censors and blessing the graves of the
dead.
1t Is. on the whole, n rather imprr ssiNc
C.d picturesque ceremony, especially
when beneath the great wooden cruciiiX IN
the centre Of the grounds the priest or bis
hop surrounded by the acolytes with ban
| rers and croziers. breaches in French Or
patois to the multitude, while on every
side glitter the myriad flames of lighted
| candles. but, like nearly all West Indian
customs, n note of incongruity jars on the
| stranger. 1t certainly appears odd to burn
candles in broad daylight, and the popping
| Of hre-crskers and boom of guns which
presently announces the finale Of the ce!e-
traton, seems strangely out Of place amid
the silent graves.
on Shrovc Tuesday in the southern Is
lands and on Christmas and New Year :
in the more northern islands the native
apparently decides that mere fireworks
AID dancing are Inadequate to express his
IDEAS of what n celebration should De, ana
combining his vague ideas of French car
nval time with his latent instinct for WIZ
and grotsquc result known as running
l,ask."
Unlike the other occasions ON which he
celebrates the ''mask' is not combined
with any religious functions and is not
confined exclusively to the lower classes.
a considerable number OF the elite-plant-
crs and otherS-throW themselves into tho
wild antics and join the motley throng,
confident of heinz IN HE Ilr1p.
their grotesquo make-ups.
!, must be admitted. however. that in
the mask the West Indian shows him
II possessed of an eye for the pic:ur-
osquc and really deserves credit for the
Ingenuity with which he gets himself up
when we consider the meague properties
at his disposal.
All sorts of costumes and characters are
seen, but the most popular appears to be
n sort of parody on the costume of Poor
Jo." With a wire gauze mask with fam
ing red checks, staring eyes aud curlc,l
black mustache, the wearers identity is
completely lost. Long, streaming yellow
hair Is formed from ssal fibre or ravellod
rope; n crown of gilt paper. tineel and
small mirrors is surmounted by waving
peacock feathers, ana an elaborate cos
tune Of blue rcd, yellow ard green. firing
I'd and decorated with mirrors, is donrcd.
Then forming in bands If ten or dozen
and accompanied by the triangle aud
"sand-hox." they dance and cavort
through the streets and visit the homas
Of the wcll-to-do, where in a wild dance
and meaningless tumble Of mystric words
hey crave drinks and "haksheosh."
occasionally they are accompanied by
wild crowd Of boys naked save for a
with red ochre CT black coal tar. The
leader of these later is usually costume
as an African witch doctor with bull $
horns. bones and feathers. and leads his
followers hither and thither with such en-
ergetc leaps and bounds and dizzy gy-
ratioSS that one marvols he does not fall
exhausted from his efforts
Many of tho costumes represent girls
aud women In exaggerated dress while
many genuine women parade in masca-
I've attire. Sometimes a Erotesque figure
IS seen stalking Ike a melodramatic VII
liau dressed in rags and masked BY a
rolled up shecpsku over his head with slit
for eyes.
Others are WearvG huge home nade
masks representing monkeys or other ami
mails, while now and then a pair Of
Masquers will appear who are really good
actors and parody some local celebrity II,
q most laughable and realistic manner u
the great appreciat on of their fellows.
Acrotats aud tumblcrs, with TOWERING
stlt walkers. are of frequent occurrence
and now and again the thiclIy packed
throng will scatter with wild yels and
screams to make way for a charging
crowd dragging n heavy rope or cham
through the streets, with which they en-