Boston Carnival is “Trinidad style” Carnival. Boston Carnival has its origins in African traditions and the street celebrations of newly freed African captives. The uniqueness of what is today called Carnival is its distinctive features of music, costume making and display, cuisine, arts and crafts and street dancing.
The annual street parade attracts hundreds of thousands of participants and attendees. Most of them have West Indian heritage from the countries in the Caribbean archipelago from the north, Jamaica, through to the south, Guyana, in South America.
The traditional major events of Boston Carnival have been Kiddies Carnival, King and Queen of Carnival, Steelband Panorama, and J’ouvert and the costume parade.
Kiddies’ Carnival highlights our young children in colorful costumes of various themes. This is a competitive event in which winners are chosen and recognized each year.
Sunday August 17, 2008 1:00 pm White Stadium
King of Carnival & Queen of Carnival contest is a major component of Carnival. The costumes, costly and intricate in design, are judged not only on their visual presentation but also on the on-stage performance exhibited by the masqueraders.
Steelband Panorama is the competition of steel pan musicians playing popular calypsos. In recent years, there has been no panorama in Boston. Listen to the last Panorama Champions: Branches Pan Groove Steel Orchestra of Boston.
J’Ouvert begins Carnival day with the daybreak celebration – “Breaking of the Day” during which participants don home-made costumes and act out various portrayals.
The Carnival Parade begins on Martin Luther King Blvd. in Roxbury, where bands and their masqueraders come to the streets with spectacular colors and sounds that signal the arrival of CARNIVAL. The parade proceeds along Warren Street, through Grove Hall and on to Dorchester’s Franklin Park.
