If you're not familiar with the carnival experience, then you might not know what a mas camp is. Really, it's the headquarters for any carnival band, the place where the group members spend days and nights of love and war preparing their elaborate costumes. And in the furious buildup to carnival that camp becomes a buzzing hive of activity - overtaken by the spirit of carnival, the reckless abandon of those who do not sleep, and the crazed intensity of those who have to meet an impossible deadline. So it's supposed to be a sort of crazy house and if it isn't well that's not carnival, that's just marching….
Monica Bodden visited two senior camps last night to see which side they were on:…
These are just a few of the revellers for Jam Jam Carnival Band - but that didn't stop the energy from pumping as these adults gyrated for the judges and the massive crowd.
It is there 4th years in carnival -- and with 125 revellers strong the Band says they are ready to bring the heat.
April Wagner - Jam Jam Mas Band
"This year our team is legends and myths; you have the queen of angels which I will be portraying; we have the queen of demon and we have the legendary King Authur."
Monica Bodden
"Tell me how you came up with the team for this year?"
April Wagner - Jam Jam Mas Band
"Well the band leader and I have sat down since January of this year and we decided to come up with the myths because we thought that would be very interesting with the colours and everything will be different instead it will set us aside from the different bands."
Monica Bodden
"Now I see your revellers just having fun. They are just enjoying themselves. You think on carnival day they will be ready for that?"
April Wagner - Jam Jam Mas Band
"Most definitely, I mean Jam Jam number one priority is about having fun. They don't push the competition aside. Of course we want to be competitive a bit because we want to come in first place but fun is number 1 priority all the time. In terms of support and sponsors; we haven't been seeing much of that, we have taken out of our pockets. You know if you love carnival you have to do what it takes."
The temperature was steaming hot over on the north side - where we met up with Mother Nature Carnival Band. These well energized revellers made it clear in their movements that they are more than ready for the carnival road march.
Leroy Green - Designer and King Mother of Nature Carnival Band
"This year we will be presenting a story called the victory and it's a fantasy story which comprises elements of Belize social history and cultural history."
Monica Bodden
"Now how did the idea all came about for this team."
Leroy Green - Designer and King Mother of Nature Carnival Band
"Really it just came out of my head and we keep in mind several factors in doing something for carnival. I keep in mind that carnival is largely of fantasy, I also keep in mind since it's a Belize carnival we still keep it Belizean. But underlying all that is the fact that it is a fantasy. So we have to make it fantastic instead of realistic. I came up with the victory; we have the first queen who is queen disturbia who is the shroud of darkness over Belize for those years in darkness when we were colonize people. I am playing king togo and I represent the evil soul of the conquerors and our final queen is queen belicio, she is the soul of Belize which never conquered but came alive and fought until we got independence."
All in all the spirit of carnival is a live - at least from what we saw last night .
The senior camp activity and judging continues tonight with Eternity and Jump Street Posse Sr - and of course, Monica will be there….
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