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The Importance & Future of the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival

Monday March 18th 2013

CCRB 502 Cultural Traditions in the Caribbean

Robert Stewart

Anston Singh

500396334

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Festivals are one of the most important traditions in the Caribbean culture.

These festivals are valued as events that shape and bind the culture amongst the

population. These festivals stand for the unity and perseverance of the Caribbean

heritage through many years of slavery and tyranny. The importance of festivals

around the Caribbean is unquestionable from Carnival to Jonkunnu it has created a

time for celebrating the culture and the unity of its people. Many of these festivals

have also sprung other festivals around the world where those of Caribbean decent

have migrated. One of the most recognized festivals, the Scotiabank Caribbean

Carnival, takes place annually on the first week of August in Toronto. This festival is

relatively new and as the years go by we continue to see the tradition continue to

grow to be bigger and bigger. This festival gives a chance for Caribbean natives to

unite together and enjoy an entire day celebrating their native Caribbean culture in

Toronto. It also sets a platform to display the culture from many different Caribbean

cultures to the public who might not know about the different traditions. Finally,

this festival creates an event for not only people from the Caribbean culture to unite

but those of all races and who decent from all nations around the world. This

festival welcomes everyone who is willing to blend and shape new cultures for not

only the city, but also the country as a whole. The importance of the Scotiabank

Caribbean Carnival lies within its ability to bring migrated Caribbean natives

together, create a large platform for the Caribbean culture, and promote diversity as

well as blending of cultures. The future of this festival represents the progress of the

Caribbean culture and diversity in Toronto.

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Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world, known for promoting

all cultures of its citizens. It is also one of the most heavily Caribbean populated

cities in Canada. It is very hard to go anywhere in Toronto without hearing the

accent, seeing the restaurants or the variety stores. Toronto has completely

endorsed the Caribbean culture and has embraced it as a part of their own. There

are many Caribbean natives in Toronto who are unable to go back home to take part

in the traditions and festivals that are an important part of their culture. This is one

of the main reasons for the establishment of the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival. This

event invites all nations of the Caribbean to take part in a large parade and display

their culture through song, dance, costumes, food, etc. This event brings all nations

of the Caribbean to be apart of one festival, which is something, that you don’t see

very often and is one of the main characteristics that sets this festival apart from all

others. The majority of festivals in the Caribbean are held in the country of origin

and don’t usually display traditions from other nations within the Caribbean. This

festival unites the Caribbean as a whole and gives a chance for all these nations to

gather together through the similarities within the cultures they share. It gives those

individuals who immigrated to this city from the Caribbean to celebrate their

culture just as they would back home. This concept reflects the importance of the

festival as well as vividly expressing its path for the future.

The Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival often referred to, as Caribana is one of the

biggest festivals in Toronto. The city shuts down an entire freeway for a large

parade of different bands from different nations all over the Caribbean. This festival

is not only seen as an event that brings people together but it is also one of the

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biggest platforms to display the Caribbean culture to the rest of society. The festival

takes place in downtown Toronto for all those to see and even join in, along with

local news coverage. Caribana gives the rest of society a taste of the Caribbean

culture and influences people of other cultures to take part in the parade. The

festival expresses Caribbean culture through dance, song, costumes, food, contests,

etc providing many ways of reaching the general public of Toronto. David Trotman

expresses in his article transforming Caribbean and Canadian identity that the

festival is one of the main reason for creating an ethnic identity in a multicultural

metropolitan society. The festival gives a chance for second-generation Caribbean

immigrants to grasp hold of the culture of their origin right here in Canada (Trotman

177-198). As the years go by the festival continues to grow significantly, with more

people participating every year. The reason for this is simple the festival has become

so large that it is now apart of the Toronto culture. People no longer associate

Caribana with just the Caribbean; they associate it with the entire city of Toronto.

People from all over the world are participating in this festival and it displays many

different themes and concepts of unity, which is exactly the main purpose of a

festival (Trotman 177-198). This festival is an example of what Caribbean culture

represents brining everyone together to celebrate. In recent years you are seeing

Europeans, Hispanics, and Asians all taking part in the proceedings and showing

love and respect for the culture, and when other people see that it also influences

them to also take part. This festival is not only important to the Caribbean natives of

Toronto but it is important to the city of Toronto as well as the entire Caribbean

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culture on a whole. The platform it establishes for the culture is one like no other

and as time goes by it will continue to grow.

Cultural diversity is defined as the variety of human societies or cultures in a

specific region. Toronto is one city that respectfully represents this concept not only

through Caribana but many other festivals, events such as Taste of the Danforth, the

Spanish Festival and much more. Caribana is one festival that manages to attract

more and more people every single year. The festival gathers a variety of different

cultures together to celebrate the traditions of the Caribbean. With this festival we

get to see the blending of cultures, which is an ongoing concept in Caribbean culture.

These festivals are meant to break social, political, and racial barriers and celebrate

something we all can relate to. The future of this festival represents the status of

cultural diversity within the city. It represents how far the Caribbean culture has

come (Trotman 177-198). Although there have been many protests against the

festival when it comes to the financial dependency on the city as well as the

concerns about the violence, the people of the city have stood by the festival and

have recognized it as a part of the Toronto culture. The Caribbean community as

well as the City of Toronto ensures the future of the festival as well as the significant

growth.

In conclusion the importance of Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival in Toronto is

one like no other, for decades this festival has been able to display the origins of the

Caribbean, the culture, as well as the symbolic traditions and themes that mold its

people. The festival has given the opportunity for Caribbean people to unite and

celebrate the festivals that shape their origin here in Toronto. With this festival

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established we see something that is so unique from any other festival all Caribbean

nations celebrating together the similarities of their traditions in the culture. The

festival creates a huge platform to display the culture to the community as well as

influence others of different origin to take part in the festivities. In the future, it will

continue to attract people to participate and blend cultures to create a positive

environment, promote cultural diversity, and produce an all-new culture, which is

the culture of Toronto.

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Bibliography

"Festival marred by violence." The Star. The Star, 31 Jul 2011. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2011/07/31/festival_marred_by_violence.html>.

Gray, Jeff. "Caribana's future still uncertain." The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, 17 Mar 2009. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/caribanas-future-still-uncertain/article708978/>.

Trotman, David. "TRANSFORMING CARIBBEAN AND CANADIAN IDENTITY." Atlantic Studies. 2. (2005): 177-198. Print. <http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/tmp/4639837964913064511.pdf>.

"the Caribbean's Events and Festivals." Caribbean Guide. Caribbean Guide. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://caribbean-guide.info/activities/events.and.festivals/>.

King Carnival. Film. 18 Mar 2013.

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