The construct of culture can be aptly described as one which encompasses the mores, folkways, religion, institutions and indeed the world view of a people which has been developed over an extensive period of time. That the local chapter of the Catholic Church has decided to participate in Carnival 2011, in the form of a Carnival band, can be viewed as simply a means of the furthering of our cultural expression (of which religion is but a subset) and indeed could be viewed as personalising our distinctive character of what it means to be a T&T specific Catholic (it sets us apart from the rest).
Carnival, calypso and steel pan are indeed huge parts of our culture and while Carnival itself may not be indigenous to T&T, calypso and steel pan definitely are.
One cannot be separated from the other and indeed it is the whole milieu of Carnival, calypso/soca and steel pan which combine and contribute to making Trinidad Carnival the greatest show on Earth. It is common knowledge that it is the French who first celebrated Carnival in Trinidad as a sort of cropover festival and as a means of letting off steam, as it were, at the end of every sugar cane harvest. This was copied by the African slaves and has now become intertwined in the culture of T&T. Therefore, to condemn participation in Carnival is to condemn our historical antecedents and is a slap in the face of our cultural formation.
The masquerade has always been a time for the expression of our creative and artistic genius and the accompanying revelry has also become endemic hitherto. What has caused some concern is the apparent nakedness into which some aspect of the costuming has tended to descend. That being the case, one must be cognisant of the fact that freedom of expression is enshrined in the Constitution of T&T, so it boils down to one's individual choice of artistic expression. If the Catholic Church proceeds with its Carnival production in 2011, I see this as an expression of free choice in a democracy, as a form of cultural expression, and as a form of going back to roots (re: the French).
Carnival as a cultural expression isn't bound to be the skimpy costumes and wine and jam but indeed can be a form of pure, clean fun. Where is the devil in all this? Are the thousands of people who participate in Carnival each year all evil? I think not. Do you? Wasn't it Karl Marx who opined that "religion is the opiate of the people?" Isn't religion subsumed by culture or is it a chicken and egg situation?
Peter Narcis
Chaguanas