Un­til to­day, Car­ni­val 2019 was not of­fi­cial. Now it is.

Pres­i­dent Paula Mae Weekes, un­der the Pub­lic Hol­i­days and Fes­ti­vals Act, Chap­ter 19:05, un­der sec­tion 5, has de­clared that Car­ni­val, 2019 shall com­mence at 4 am on Mon­day March 4th, 2019 and shall cease at mid­night on Tues­day March 5th, 2019.

This Or­der is cit­ed as the Pub­lic Fes­ti­vals (Car­ni­val) Or­der, 2019.

So why is this im­por­tant? Well, there are cer­tain things that take place at Car­ni­val time that will breach the law, un­less a pub­lic fes­ti­vals de­c­la­ra­tion has been made.

For in­stance, the law states that any per­son who ap­pears in pub­lic masked or oth­er­wise dis­guised ex­cept dur­ing a pub­lic fes­ti­val is li­able to a fine of $1,000 and to im­pris­on­ment for six months.

The pe­ri­od of time de­clared by the pres­i­dent is the time-pe­ri­od that usu­al­ly cov­ers the start of J'ou­vert on Car­ni­val Mon­day to the end of the Pa­rade of the Bands on Car­ni­val Tues­day.

And while Car­ni­val Mon­day and Tues­day are pub­lic fes­ti­val days, they are not pub­lic hol­i­days and are not list­ed in the sched­ule of hol­i­days un­der the act.