St Lucia: Parades, parties and being splattered with paint during joyous J'ouvert

By Sophie Freeman

Missed a spot: During J'ouvert, everyone who takes to the streets can expect to be covered in paint

There is no escaping it - I am heading for a pasting.

The reveller with the big drum of paint and the wide smile is determined I should be covered from head to toe in thick blue goo.

Knowing resistance is futile, I succumb to his paintbrush - and am smeared all over like a roll of wallpaper.
And soon, I'm grinning just as much as him.

This is J’ouvert, the street party that kicks off the annual carnival celebrations in St Lucia’s capital city, Castries.

The name is taken from the French patois for ‘day opening’, with celebrations starting well before the sun has risen and continuing into the afternoon - when the main carnival parades take over.

It is customary that no-one is left clean during J’ouvert, with revellers covering themselves in a choice of paint, mud or oil - which is why I am left standing in the streets of St Lucia resembling a smurf.

The tradition began in the eastern Caribbean around the time that slavery was abolished in the 1830s – although the concept of carnival had existed there for about 50 years longer, with Trinidadian slaves who were banned from attending their French masters’ masquerade balls choosing to organise their own entertainment in their backyards.

Until a decade ago, St Lucia held its carnival in the early spring – a chance for the islanders, of whom 90 per cent are Roman Catholic, to enjoy a ‘final fling’ before hunkering down for Lent.

But now, in a bid to attract more tourists - and to avoid clashing with the other Caribbean islands’ carnivals – St Lucia has shifted the whole festival to July.

Visitors are increasingly flocking to the parades – and are warmly embraced (if a little too warmly by some of the men, who can require firm instructions to back off).


Carnival royalty: The Queen of the Bands contest is a riot of colour


Devil on your back: The costumes often tell a story


J’ouvert, though, is still pretty much off the tourist trail – in part because of its unsociable 4am kick-off time - but still very much worth a visit.

Although it lacks the feathers, sequins and conventional beauty of the carnival parades, its rawness is compelling - especially when you stop to ponder the history behind it.


Dancing to the beat: Sophie couldn't quite compete with the locals' rhythm


And because it is still relatively unknown to visitors, it feel like I’ve been let into a very special secret when I make my way through the narrow streets to join the party.

The cold paint on my skin has dried swiftly in the hot sticky air, but still I have goose-pimples as I join the throng of thousands, dancing to the deafening Soca beats blasting out from huge trucks.

The crowd - which feels like it contains every single one of the island’s 170,000 residents – has pulled me along for a good mile or so before I'm able to stop and take a breather.

And it is then that I realise I am one of just a handful of non-locals here – identifiable by our dismal inability to dance in the Caribbean style.

The St Lucian girls try desperately to teach me their Beyonce-esque bottom wiggle, but to no avail. I get by with a bit of ‘chipping’ – a type of shuffle with the weight on the toes, named after the sound your feet make along the road.

Just a few hours earlier, I had been dazzled by some really impressive dancing at the King And Queen Of The Bands contest in Castries’ converted sports stadium.

Wearing the most amazing 20ft-high costumes – true feats of architectural ingenuity which must have taken months to make – contestants had gyrated, grinded and shimmied their way to the crown.

First up was a girl dressed as a giant sunshine with a spooky devil face on the back, accompanied by a deep-voiced narrator telling folk tales about the island’s history.

The not-so-Little Miss Sunshine was trailed by 20 other contestants, including a woman dressed as a huge Spanish fan (symbolising the influence Latin settlers had on the island) - and another swathed in green bark, representing the island’s rainforests.


Multi-coloured: The St Lucians use J'ouvert paints in the colours of the island


These lush and sprawling forests comprise 13 per cent of St Lucia’s landmass, about 20,000 acres – and they are all the more stunning when viewed, later that week, from a zip-wire 50ft off the ground.

With the adrenaline rushing through my veins and my legs dangling wildly below me, I get a unique view of the gigantic trees with their skinny trunks reaching high into the sky.

I spot several species of lizards too – although I'm not lucky enough to see the St Lucian parrot, or jacquot, despite a conservation programme boosting its numbers from around 100 in the 1970s to about 1,000 now.

With all the energy taken out of me, I start dozing as the minibus meanders down the windy hillside and back to my base for the week, the Royal St Lucian Resort.

When I wake, my guide smiles approvingly and tells me: ‘You see - Barbados is where people go to be seen, St Lucia is where people go to relax’.

Hauling myself out of my seat, I sleepily make my way back to my suite for an even deeper slumber.

But first, there is just time for the equivalent of a warm bath in the Caribbean Sea (it’s about the same temperature) - and a chance to wash off those last lingering traces of blue paint.

Travel factsLetsgo2 (www.caribbean.letsgo2.com/st-lucia / 0871 208 0093) offers seven nights at the Royal by Rex resorts from £939 per person, based on two adults sharing a deluxe suite, on a room-only basis. Price includes return economy class flights from Gatwick with British Airways or Virgin Atlantic, round-trip airport transfers in St Lucia and the services of a local Letsgo2 representative.

For more information on St Lucia, visit www.stlucia.org, or call the Saint Lucia Tourist Board on 020 7341 7000.


source: dailymail