Heritage Research Group Caribbean (HRGC)

We’ve been working on several upcoming blog posts, but given that it’s been a while since we last posted —and that today is “Carnival Tuesday” (cancelled or not!)—here is a link to one of our favorite references on the subject: Frederic Fenger’s “Black Mardi Gras” article in Harper’s Magazine (1916). https://archive.org/details/harpersnew134various/page/722/mode/2up Note that the writing is completely pejorative and condescending — he was a white American guy sailing across the Lesser Antilles in his own small boat which he also chronicles. The article starts out with him loafing at the whaling station on Isle de Caille, when one of the whalers gets a light signal from Sauteurs to come over. What ensues is one of the earliest, most detailed descriptions available on carnival in Grenada.  As is clear to any Grenadian, the piece is entirely about what we generally call Shortknee Mas, but this version is similar to Carriacou's Shakespeare Mas (without the Julius Caesar stuff), given...