St Maarten Carnival
Color and Splendor
on St Maarten...

St Maarten Carnival

With just 37 square miles, St. Maarten is ruled by the Netherlands and France and is situated midway throughout the Caribbean islands. Carnival is the biggest festivity on the island all year.

Throughout Lent season, a smaller sized celebration takes place on the French section of the island; during April, the Dutch section will have a much larger celebration which lasts for seventeen days and nights.

Local people start preparing months ahead for St Maarten Carnival, by practicing songs and making costumes. In case you can attend this celebration you will discover an array of activities to participate in during this time.

Probably the most fun and entertaining events in the Carnival is the road marches, with spectators coming from all over to watch or take part in the festivities. One such event is the Junior Carnival Parade, featuring a costumed march which is open to children from toddlers to 17 years old.

There is also a Jouvert Jump Up, which is the biggest street party for any Carnival festivities. Jourvert starts normally in the early morning hours. The Grand Carnival Parade is usually an enormous march which celebrates multi-culturalism and floats are generally built months in advance.

The Closing Jump Up, also known as the "Last Lap", would be the official marker which ends all the Carnival Activities.

The most popular shows during the Carnival celebrations are the calypso competitions and pageants. The chief pageant is the Queen pageant and this is divided into three distinct shows for juniors, teens and seniors.

Local cuisine becomes the benchmark of colloquial awareness during this cultural festival and attracts both locals and visitors alike to the central performing arena called The Carnival Village.

The largest event for the entire Carnival event is the Calypso competition. In the initial week of the celebration this competition will start and eighteen distinct calypso bands is going to compete to become one of the top ten to perform at the finals in order to challenge the existing champion.

Finally, two concerts staged during the Carnival celebration are the International concerts and the Youth Extravaganza concert. Youth Extravaganza is just for one night in the course of the Carnival and is exclusively for teens and youth.