Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago is considered "the oldest and greatest of them all, the mother of all Carnivals, often imitated, never equaled" ("Carnival, The Greatest Show on Earth"). Official Carnival lasts for two days of masquerading, but the Carnival season is much longer and involves a wide variety of activities. Carnival is a celebration associated with the coming of Lent on the Catholic calendar and is seen as the last opportunity to indulge before the sober disciplines of Lent. The word "carnival" itself means "farewell to the flesh." Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, however, also involves the inclusion of African rhythms in the music, creating the Calypso beat that marks this celebration. The history of carnival has been traced by some researchers back to the rites of Bacchus in ancient Greece, and certainly the celebration resembles Bacchanalian and Dionysian rituals. Some also theorize that early in the nineteenth century, the working population took to imitating and ridiculing the colonial authorities at Carnival time by means of extravagant costumes and an incomprehensible linguistic patois. As a result, a colorful cast of Carnival characters came into being and have continued as icons of Carnival, including devils called Jab Jabs (from the French diable), human donkeys called burrokeets, bandits called Midnight Robbers, clowns called Pierrot Grenade, and giants on stilts called Moko Jumbies ("Carnival, The Greatest Show on Earth").
The beginnings of Carnival in this part of the world has been traced to the influx of French settlers who came with large numbers of slaves to Trinidad in the late eighteenth century. Carnival was then generally a period of festivities celebrated from Christmas Day to Ash Wednesday, and during this period, the white elite took would visit each other in their carriages and promenade through the streets in costumes representative of their European connections. Among the subjects w...