Carnival Tabanca or as my mom says in Spanish, “Cabanga” basically means you have the frekkin BLUES!!!
When I was a kid I HATED carnival where as my brothers LOVED carnival, why??? Where we lived Colon, Panama it was all about the Diablos (Devils) & my bros got to make their own diablos masks & harass people in the skreets. I’m sure somewhere else they were celebrating Pretty Mas, but I didn’t get to see much of that. I was literally afraid to leave to house during carnival cause the streets were full of diablos and I’m a scary chica, even the commercials for scary movies scare the ish outta me. All the pix below are courtesy of my cousin Indira in Colon this carnival. The lil red dots on the blurry pic of the streets are diablos running amuck. Don't ask me WTF is going on with that half naked woman, guess her shirt fell down while running from a diablo???


But now I Love Love Love carnival!!! After Miami carnival in October I go into hibernation. Back to normal life of work, school, being a mom, not traveling, regular Atlanta nightlife and stockpiling $$ for Trinidad Carnival. I am very content with being in non carnival mode until Trinidad carnival rolls around, after Trindiad the carnival fever sets in and I start foaming at the mouth. I just want more more more!!!
I got the International Carnival Calendar off carnivalinfo.com (some of the dates are wrong so do ur research b4 u book) and I’m sitting here trying to decide what carnivals I’m going to attend this year. I must attend at least 4 carnivals to maintain my sanity and to also keep the year round motivation to work out. 2012 I did Trinidad, Atlanta, Houston, Toronto & Miami. 2011 I did Trinidad, Atlanta, DC, Toronto & Miami. I’ve already knocked out Trinidad, and Miami is a must so what shall the other 2 or 3 carnivals be??? I’m thinking I want to do Crop Over this year, now if I can just talk some of the homies into going with me. A friend said I should do ATI weekend in Jamaica in August instead. *Decisions decisions*
I don’t get a costume for all the carnivals I attend and I decided to design my own costume for one of these carnivals. I'm really excited about designing my own costume, the sketch looks great, now if I can only make my vision come to life. Ima skip a head piece cause I’m really not that big on head pieces, my last few carnivals I gave my headpiece away early in the day. I’m sure the people in my Trinidad band thought I was a weirdo cause I had my headpiece on backwards, yes I went thru the trouble off adding more feathers & other details (cause it looked pretty BLAH) only to wear it backwards. Below... In my hotel working on my headpiece the nite b4 carnival
Now to finalize the 2013 carnival schedule!!! Plan early people!!!
International Carnival Calendar
| |
Jan 5-Feb 12th, 2013 | CuraƧao Carnival (Fudeka) |
Jan 27th -Feb 12th, 2013 | Aruba |
Febr 18-25th, 2013 | Rio de Janiero, Brazil |
Feb 11th & 12th, 2013 | Panama City, Panama |
Feb 11th & 12th, 2013 | Trinidad & Tobago |
Feb 11th & 12th, 2013 | Dominica |
Feb 12th, 2013 | New Orleans, LA |
Feb 10th -12th, 2013 | Haiti Carnival (Kanaval) |
Apr 3-8th, 2013 | Bacchanal Jamaica |
Apr 19th -May 2, 2013 | St. Maarten |
April 22-28th, 2013 | St. Thomas (V.I) |
June 9th, 2013 | Tampa, FL |
July, 2013 | Atlantic City Carnival |
May 26th, 2013 | Honduras |
May, 2013 | Pt. Fortin Borough Day |
May 5th, 2013 | Cayman Islands (Batabano) |
May 22-24, 2013 | Bermuda (Junkanoo) |
May 27-30, 2013 | Georgia Carnival (Dekalb) |
May 25th, 2013 | Atlanta, GA |
May 27-30, 2013 | Orlando, FL |
May 26-27, 2013 | San Francisco, CA |
May 25th – 28th, 2013 | Berlin (Germany) |
June, 2013 | Calgary (Carifest), AB, Canada |
June 14-16th, 2013 | Charleston Carifest Charleston, SC |
June, 2013 | Philadelphia, PA |
June 16th, 2013 | West Palm Beach, FL |
June 29-Jul 10th, 2013 | St. Vincent & The Grenadines |
July, 2013 | St. John (V.I) |
June 29-July 4, 2013 | Houston, TX (Caribfest) |
July, 2013 | Montreal, Canada (Carifest) |
July 13-14, 2013 | Baltimore/Washington Carnival |
July, May 28-July 17th 2013 | St. Lucia |
July, 2013 | Jersey City, NJ |
July 21st, 2013 | Atlantic City, NJ |
July 23-24, 2013 | Vancouver, BC |
July 27-28, 2013 | Rotterdam (Zomer Carnival) |
July 27-Aug 6th, 2013 | Antigua Carnival |
Aug 7th 2013 | Antigua |
Jul 28- Aug 7, 2013 | Anguilla Summer Festival |
Aug 1-4th, 2013 | ScotiabankToronto Caribbean Carnival (formerly Caribana) |
Aug 1-5, 2013 | Barbados (Crop Over) |
Aug, 2013 | Tortola Carnival (BVI) |
Aug, 2013 | Nevis (Culturama) |
Aug, 2013 | Norfolk, Virginia |
Aug 5-6-, 2013 | Hamilton, Canada |
Aug 5-6-, 2013 | Edmonton (Cariwest) |
Aug 5-6-, 2013 | Detroit, MI |
Aug, 2013 | Hartford (Connecticut) |
Aug, 2013 | Ottawa (Caribe-Expo) |
Aug 4-14th, 2013 | Grenada (Spice Mas) |
Aug 17th, 2013 | Virginia CaribFest Carnival |
Aug 25-26, 2013 | Chicago, IL (Carifete) |
Aug 24th-25th, 2013 | Boston, MA |
Aug 26-27, 2013 | Notting Hill (London, UK) |
Sep 1-5, 2013 | New York (Labor Day) |
Sep 13- 16th, 2013 | Jacksonville Carnival |
Oct 13th, 2013 | Miami Carnival, FL |
Oct 20th, 2013 | Los Angeles Carnival Road Show |
Nov 8-18th, 2013 | Cayman Pirates Week |
Dec 14-Jan 1, 2013 | Monserratt |
Dec 15-Jan 2, 2013 | St. Kitts |
Dec 19-Jan 2, 2013 | St.Croix (V.I) |
Dec 26 & Jan 1, 2013 | Bahamas (Junkanoo |