The semi-weekly messenger., 1906-11-02
THE WEST INDIAN PEASANTS
inherited Customs Shown in cele-
bratIon of Feast DAYS
Annual Clearing OF the Cemeteries.
An Impressive Ccremony-'Runnin
Mask on Shrove Tuesday-CeIebra-
ton Of the Day OF Corpus Christi.


ant exhibits in his language, customs,
beliefs and habits, mingling of four
races to a remarkable extent and in
many a queer way
Some Of his peculiarities are readily
traced to French source, while others
date back to the ancestral African saw
age or cannibal 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
forebearE as the manner in which he
celebrates his feasts and HOLIDAYS.
Of undoubted French origin are the
customs observed on All Souls Day.
On this day the annual clearings Of the
cemeteries takes place and all trash.
weeds and accumulated rubbish of a
year is carefully raked up until the Or
dinarily unkempt and dis5rderly
graveyards look really neat and at
tractive.
Then in the afternoon from far and
near come women and children bearing
candies, candelabra, flowers, wrWarhs
and other ornaments, until the ceme-
terry is thrOnged with a molly, zgaily
dressed crowd of natives.
The candles and WreathS are a1rang-
ed on the tOmbs and graves, singly, in
pairs or in dozens, according to the
means of the donor, and, having been
1T, the crowd awaits. the arrival of the
priests and acOlytes, who march back
and forth among the graves, spTiIKiing
molly water, waving cenSOrS and bless
ing the graves and the dead.
It is, on the whole. a rather f1nDres-
sive and picturesque ceremony, especi-
ally when beneath the great wooden
crUcifiX in the center Of the grounds,
the bishop, surrounded by the Tacolyte5
with banners and croxiers. breaches in
French or patOis to the multitude,
while on every side glitters the myriad
flames of lighted candles; but, like
nearly all West Indian customs, a note
of ncCngruity jars on the stranger 1t
certainly appears odd to burn candles
in broad daylight, and the popping of
fire-crackers and the boom OF guns
which presently announces the finale
of the celebration, seems strangely out
of place amid the silent graves
On ShrOve Tuesday in the southern
islands and on Christmas and New
Years in the more northern islands the
natives apparently decide that mere
fireworks and dancing are Inadequate
to express his ideas of what a cele-
bratiOn really should be. and, combin-
ing his vague ideas of French carnival
time with it's latent instinct for gar
paint and savage dress, produces a
weird and grotesque result known rs
running mask
Unlike the other ocasionS on which
he celebrates. the mask IS not COM
bined with any religious functions and
is not confined exclusively to the lower
classes. A considerable number Of the
elite-planters and others-thrOw
themselves into the wild antics and
join the molly thrOng, confident Of
being unrecognizable under their gro
teSQue make-upS.
1t must be admitted, however, that in
the mask" the West Indian shows
himself possessed of an eye for the
picturesque and really deserves credit
for the ingenuity with which he gets
himself up when we consider the mea-
gre properties at his disposal
All sorts of costumes and characters
are seen but the most popular appears
to be a sort of parody on the costume
with flaming red cheeks, staring blue
eyes and curled black moustache, the
wearers identity is completely lost
Long. streaming yellow hair is formed
from sisal fibre or raveIed rope; &
crown of gilt paper, tinsel and small
mirrors is surmounted by waving pea
cock feathers. and an elaborate cos
tune CT blue, red, yellow and green
fringed and decorated with mirrors, is
dOnned. Then forming in bands Of ten
or q dozen and accompanied by the
triangle and ''SandboX' they dance ard
cavort through the streets and visit the
homes of the we'll to do, where III
wild dance and meaningless tumble
of mystic words they crave drink and
''bakSheeSh."
Occasionally they are accompanied
by a wild crowd of boys, naked save for
lOin cloth and daubed from head 20
foot with red Ochre or black coal tar.
The leader of the latter is usua1ly cos
TUNED as an African Withc doctor with
bulls horns, bones and feathers. and
leads his followers hither and thither
with such energetic leaps and bounds
and dizzy gy-atiOnS that one maryels
he does not fall exhausted from his
efforts
Many of the cistumes represent girls
and women iK exaggerated dress while
many genuine women parade in mascu
line attire Sometimes a grotesque fig
ure is seen stalking like a melodramic
william dressed in rags and masked by
a rolled up sheep skin over his head
with Sits for eyes.
Others are wearing huge homemade
masks representing MONKEYS or either
animals, while now and then a pair of
masquers will appear who are really
good actors and parody some local ce-
lebrfty in a most laughable and real
istic manner to the great appreciation
of their fellows.
Acrobats and tumblers, with tower
ing silt walkers, are of frequent Oc-
currence and SOW and again the thick-
ly packed throng will scatter with Wild
yells and screams to make way for