This afternoon, we had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Matthews which is a professor at University of West Indies. She gave us a great presentation! We were able to learn about the history of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. Carnival first started in the late 1700s by the French planters. They used to call it “mask balls”. This would be considered Phase one of history. After this phase ended in 1834, 4 years later, the Africans started to practice Carnival in their own way which was followed by the upper white class. In the mid 1900s is when Carnival started to become an event of beads, feathers, and bands. Carnival is known for COLOR. The individuals who attend Carnival spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on costumes to participate in these festivities. After her lecture, she gave us the opportunity to construct a book that was made up of the different characters and their descriptions in history. My favorite one was Dame Lorraine. After the booklet, we were about to decorate masks in our own creative ways and try on an outfit which is featured in Carnival which is modeled by the 3 ladies above. The masks decorating session was one to never forget. It was so funny how serious people were about how their masks and who’s looked the best.. We also had to name them. My masks’ name was “Black Diamond with a little bit of sparkle”. Dr. Matthews was also so kind to teach us how to play a song on the steel drums. We had a birthday in our group today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AKILI, lol so we learned how to play Happy Birthday on the steel drums. Even though this was a late class and we were all tired, the experience was definitely one not to miss. Dr. Matthews was great and it was so enjoyable to spend time around the table learning about Carnival and doing the activities she had planned that prepared a great illusion of the real experience. I will definitely be back one year to experience Carnival in real life!