Annual festival includes parades, street dances, art and craft exhibitions, musical performances and more
Montserrat (November, 2006) – The Caribbean island of Montserrat is gearing up for its December Festival. As soon as December starts, pre-Festival events begin, including school and church variety shows, art and craft exhibitions and more. Many of the Festival shows take place at Festival Village in Little Bay.
Traditionally, Montserrat’s December Festival is one of the highlights of the year, and provides a showcase of the island’s culture and performing talent. The festivities are more concentrated during the last two weeks in December, usually climaxing on New Year’s Day with a big street parade. When the volcanic crisis surfaced in 1995, the festival went low-key for a few years, but now, in spite of ongoing volcanic activities, Montserrat continues to celebrate its festival as normal.
Montserrat’s festival has much in common with the carnivals staged in other Caribbean islands, but it carries its own unique character. Among the highlights of the festival are beauty and talent competitions, the Calypso King competition, a costumed troupe competition, masquerade performances around the villages, informal street dancing (known as “jamming” or “jumping up”), and the New Year’s Day Parade. Choral singing and dramatic performances are also a part of the festival program and are highly recommended.
Christmas is not forgotten, and there is always an open-air carol event, while the choral singing groups make sure to include some Christmas music in their performances.
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