List of Trinidad Carnival Character Costumes

A wide variety of costumes (called "mas") depicting traditional Trinidadian Carnival characters are seen throughout the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. After emancipation in 1838, freed slaves combined African culture with colonial influence to create characters that parodied the upper-class customs and costumes of Carnival. Over the years, characters would rise and drop in popularity, and many became overshadowed by more modern, "bikini and bead," costumes.

The following is a list of some of the traditional characters, which symbolize the origins of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, and their costumes.

When this masquerade first came about, the costume was composed of rags and the masqueraders would hold spears as props in order to create the image of an "uncivilized Africa" However, a Carnival bandleader, George Bailey, created decorative costumes that portrayed a much brighter depiction of African beauty.

This mas is no longer common in the Trinidad Carnival.

This character is meant to be a parody of a mother who has a bastard child. The main components of this costume are a pleated dress, a bonnet, and most importantly, a doll. Masqueraders would walk up to men on the streets and accuse them of being the father of the child. Usually, the masquerader will continue to embarrass said man until they give her or him some money. Although this costume is mostly portrayed by young women, men will sometimes combine this costume with a high-pitched voice for comedic effect.

Most bat costumes are black or brown, but white bats are also fairly common. The mask usually covers the entire head of the masquerader and the wings can span up to 15 feet wide. The movements of a masquerader would try and mimic the flapping of bats' wings, but a masquerader will also crawl or dance on their toes (typically called the "Bat Dance").

The name for this character comes from the Spanish word for "little donkey." The typical costume is made to look as if the masquerader is riding a donkey, which is usually made out of paper mache. The "rider" will also wear a large sombrero and clothes with multiple embellishments, especially flowers. The Burrokeet also comes from East Indian descent and has another, female variation called Soumayree.

The original carnival character costume was made out of rice bags and covered in the leaves of the plantain tree. The mask, like most character masks was made out of some sort of paper-mache. Now, most cow costumes consist of a cream-coloured loose shirt with tight pants that have gold accents. The full paper mache mask was also replaced by a hat or headband with cow horns. Since this is a costume that is meant to be done in a group, matadors and picadors can also join the group and "challenge" the cows. Other members of the group would dress up as a Mad Bull and charge at the matadors, picadors, and bystanders. The Mad Bull of the group would stop charging at certain bystanders if they hand money to a member of the group.

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