Mas >> What is Mas

What is Mas

Mas is short for the word "masquerade" but over the years it has come to mean everything associated with Trinidad-style Carnivals like Cariwest. Mas is the medium through which the Caribbean arts of costume maintained by and making, Calypso, and steelpan come together. According the Emmy Award winner Peter Minshall of Trinidad, "Mas is a universal performance language that employs rhythm, image, mask and movement." He continues "It is human energy in performance on a huge scale."

When you bring together the costumes, pan, Calypso, the mas camps, the good times, the jump-up, the competitions, the movements to the rhythms, the general excitement in the air, the culture of mas is created. This mas culture is re-created annually here in Edmonton during the Cariwest season which starts in late Spring and goes to the end of August when the wind-down parties take place. In Trinidad it lasts all year!