Everybody Loves a Parade

The West Indian Labor Day Parade happens every year on Eastern Parkway, and as this is 6 blocks from our apartment, of course we went! (plus, I'm a sucker for all things parade-y.) And it is, no joke, 7 hours long. We got there early and walked a bit to check out the stalls lining the street, and the food and spices smelled fab. Crown Heights' biggest population is from the Caribbean, and there were flags from all over.

The first 2 hours were just politcal campaigns walking, which got old quick. But a lot of them had good Caribbean music playing, and there was running commentary from the crowd, so it was still fun. I came back a few hours later, when the real parade had started, and the costumes? WELL worth the wait.

As my cousin's Grenadian colleague Miss Charles put it, "Caribbean girls. Confidence through the ROOF." No body-image problems here, refreshingly enough. Also, what parade is complete without devil costumes?

I think the right word for this is goddess-y.

We got back from the movies around 9, and there were STILL people mingling, eating, and dancing, although the parade had been over for a few hours by this point. My cousin said her students (who are mostly West Indian) talk about this parade for the entire year, and I can see why! The only remnants the next day were scattered chicken bones and empty water bottles.

Maybe another year I'll have the guts to go to j'ouvert, which is the first parade of the day. It starts at 3 am, and ends around sunrise. One of the staples of j'ouvert is splattering powders, paint, and mud on each other, which I didn't realize until I saw some of the participants in the second parade who had dyed hand-prints all over their bodies.