Carnival celebrations in Mardi Gras capitals SUCH as Rio, New Orleans and Trinidad are sizzling hot right through Shrove Tuesday but fizzle out with the arrival of Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Not so in Martinique! While revelers elsewhere in the world are nursing hangovers and having their aching foreheads rubbed with ashes, the people of Martinique are just beginning the final, most exciting day of their celebration. Here Carnival runs at full tilt an extra 24 hours and, with more than 40 marching bands joining the festivities in 2007, Martinique is planning the party of a lifetime!
Mardi Gras connoisseurs from many lands, including the late Truman Capote, himself a native of New Orleans, have praised the uniqueness of the Martinique celebration. It’s “as spontaneous and vivid as an explosion in a fireworks factory,” wrote Capote in “Music for Chameleons,” describing his visit to Carnival in Martinique.
“Rejoice Today, Repent Tomorrow”
In a good spirit of mischief, and for as long as anyone can remember, the theme for Ash Wednesday in Martinique has been “Rejoice today, repent tomorrow.” To carry the mischief even further, about three weeks into Lent, the island comes up with a dawn-to-dusk reprise of Carnival in miniature, an official holiday known as Mi-Carême (literally “mid-Lent”). Fasting is suspended for 24 hours and the revelry starts all over again.
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Note: Event dates are subject to change. Please contact the event organizer before making travel plans.
Carnival Connection: Your source for Caribbean Carnival Festival Information, including festival dates, parade information, contact information and links to official websites. Includes information about Mardi Gras, Trini-Style Carnival and other related festivals.
Where's the current dates? - Unlike other websites, CaribbeanChoice only publishes the official dates as released by the carnival organizer. Most other websites simply guess what next year's dates are. We don't do that. We want to make sure our information is as accurate as possible.
This page will be updated as soon as we get the official dates from the event organizer, or they post it on their official website, whichever comes first.
Note: We haven't heard anything from this carnival in awhile. It may not be held anymore. If you have information about this carnival, please contact us.
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