Confession, this has been the most chaotic re-sharing of a series I couldn’t have been more proud of, and has lived more in my memory than in the version that represents their actual form. However, the foundation is there of work I was proud to produce in 2017.

I am also including the video I did for teleSUR and my interview with Margaret Nakid-Chatoor, who, by the way, is doing amazing work as a psychotherapist who is decolonising academic research.

In Trinidad, Carnival ends with a two-day street party that signals the end of weeks of feting, partying, concert going. The type of “mas” played can be described as “pretty mas” or “dutty mas”.

Carnival begins with dutty mas, or Jourvay. Jourvay is a Trinidad French Creole word for the opening, because it signals the beginning of Carnival. Revellers, as they are called come out on the streets as early as 2am, and smear themselves and each other with with mud, paint and oil, hence the name “dutty mas”, dutty being the creole word for dirty.

Jourvay is in full swing before sunrise. As the sun comes up the party peters out.

What the Trinidadian playright Tony Hall calls a magic limbo between dark and light is both the beginning and a period of transition from one type of mas to the next. In the Trinidad context, Monday mas, is a stripped down version of the Carnival. The costumes aren’t fully on display, that is saved for Carnival Tuesday.

On Carnival Tuesday the full costume is put on and displayed on the streets. The so-called “pretty mas” that originated with the Carnival band Harts in the late 1970s has dominated the road, is most fully displayed on the second and final day of Carnival. The beaded bikinis and feather headpieces that seem synonymous with the modern Carnival, have caused conflict with purists and masqueraders.

However, both forms of the masquerade still allow for participants to experience something many struggle to describe but are drawn to within the form to provide an escape from the stresses of their daily lives.

Elisha Bartels is an avowed fan of the jourvay, dutty mas Carnival model. She describes it as a spiritual experience. Amanda is more of a pretty mas, bikini and beads masquerader and for her the annual festival makes her feel, “Joyful, ecstatic and free.”

We’d explored in a previous article how taking part in Carnival can provide a coping mechanism for participants, or even provide a space to heal from trauma. Kelly Rajpaulsingh is a mas player and a designer, co-founder of the band Bacchanalia that takes part in Notting Hill Carnival annually. She says that playing mas makes her feel alive.

“Like I have been slowly deteriorating until this time of year comes (mentally, emotionally, physically – tired from everyday life and stress and all that) and then this day approaches and with it –comes the planning and preparation – the meeting up of friends, family, getting excited to totally ‘exhale’ and let yourself go for a few days”

The feeling of freedom that comes from being on the streets of whatever city you may be “playing mas” being it Port of Spain to Brooklyn, surrounded by costumed others causes a range of positive emotions for the participants.

As Elisha puts it, the experience makes her feel “like a deity, larger-than-life but somehow the very essence of myself…and, divinely connected to life, the universe and everything.”

And why this “street party” has so much significance to participants who argue that it is more than just a party, because as Elisha says when you are in a fete, or party,”I playing meself (as opposed to a mas) and is a grand time…but yes, carnival as an experience is spiritual.”

The transformative aspect of the Carnival that provides protection from the rules of daily life that normally frowns upon such behaviour is a heady thing for participants.

“The costume element gives it a different feeling to being in a fete. It adds an element of spectacle and the most outrageous but perfectly allowable showing off. You’re aware that you are part of a show, part of a spectacle for people to enjoy especially when you are crossing the stage at the Stadium,” says Amanda.

Kelly Rajpaulsingh has seen this time and time again, as a mas player and a costume designer. And while as a Trinidadian living in London she was born into Carnival, she has seen how the heady elements of the festival can have its effect on persons unfamiliar with the concept.

“There’s been many converts who are now diehard fans that are not even a part of this culture but they appreciate the beauty and togetherness of it all and in some way, their participation also adds to the flavour.”

The final day of Notting Hill Carnival is August 28, 2017. Kelly will be on the road with her band Bacchanalia. You just missed Amanda in Kadooment because that was August 14, 2017, and you’ll have to wait until 2am of February 12, 2018 to maybe see Elisha jumping up with the band 3canal.