The last Sunday night of Carnival season in Trinidad & Tobago is when they have Dimanchie Gras, which is the pageant to view top ten costumes for men & women and crown the best as King & Queen of Carnival.
Let me tell you, these costumes were unbelievable and over the top amazing. The women especially. They almost all had feathers…..lots and lots of feathers, but most of them are so large they are mounted on a three wheel cart the contestants pull and push around.
On top of the costumes there are lots of entertainment showing off different dances, people, music, and the like. Imagine it like the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. A large variety of showcased talent. They would do some of the talent then present the women. More talent and then the men. Finally more talent and the winners, which I nailed the women’s costume winner. It was this beautiful pink dragon costume called Mother of Dragons – Keeper of Light worn by Roxanne Omalo. The men’s on the other hand I had a tougher time guessing and the eventually winner was this colorful 25 foot tall statue of a man siting on a throne like seat. It was called “Zharvakko” – The Voudun King of Death worn by Joseph Lewis.
The most exciting moment was when this HUGE red dragon costume one of the guys was wearing caught fire from the sparks they blew out its mouth. You could see the snout on fire, but the guy kept dancing because the costume was so big he could not see the flames. After 10 seconds or so he bolted and the stage crew had extinguishers on it, but not before half the face was up in smoke.
If you attend Dimanchie Gras know that you should dress up a bit. I wore slacks and a button down shirt (yes I do own a few, haha) and it was perfect.
Some of the queens costumes:
This was the winner of the queens crown
This was the winner of the kings crown
This is the one that caught fire
