Grenada Spicemas takes place each year during the months of July and August. The Grenada Carnival experience is well known for their unique J’ouvert morning and of course their ‘Jab, Jab’ filled with elaborate costumes and parades, intoxicating rhythms, pure Caribbean energy, and more. And it seems like carnival lovers will be able to enjoy the Island of Spice this year as the Grenada Spicemas celebration is in fact on and happening from August 3-10, 2022.
Orlando Carnival
Orlando Carnival is a well-known Caribbean- American that celebrates and embraces Caribbean culture through Caribbean dance, music, parades, masqueraders, costumes, and of course cuisine. This year Orlando will be celebrating their 35th Annual Orlando Downtown Carnival Weekend. The festivities are carded to take place on May 27th, 28th, and 29th, 2022.
Photo courtesy- www.2bkaribbean.com
Toronto
Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival or Caribana as it was formerly called is a three-week celebration of Caribbean music, cuisine, costumes, tradition, and culture. The festival has grown exponentially over the years since its start in 1967 and is currently North America’s largest cultural festival. And it seems like the countdown is on for its return in 2022 as the 2022 Caribana Weekend is carded to take place on Thursday, July 28 – Monday, August 1st, 2022.
Barbados
Crop Over is considered one of the Caribbean’s most popular and colorful festivals. Originally beginning in the 1780’s, a time when Barbados was the world’s largest producer of sugar, the festival was held at the end of the sugar season to celebrate the culmination of another successful sugar cane harvest, hence the name ‘Crop Over’. Today, the festival is celebrated 3 month-long with Barbadian music, arts, food, culture and so much more. Barbados ends the festivities with a grand carnival parade known as ‘Kadooment Day’. Kadooment is known as the biggest and sweetest carnival to end the Caribbean’s carnival season in August each year. With regards to Crop Over 2022, no decision has yet been. The last Crop Over celebrations was held in 2019.
Jamaica
Up next we head to the land of Reggae and Dancehall, which has been gaining recognition over the past 15 years for their exciting Jamaican Carnival experience. Held annually, the festivities which normally kick off in February and end mid-April has been getting bigger and better each year. And has since turned into one of the island’s biggest annual events filled with all-inclusive fetes, incredible food, and vibrating with soca music, culminating with a bright and colorful parade complete with beautiful costumes. However, since being canceled last year due to the pandemic, no official confirmation has been given concerning this year’s festivities which usually take place around Easter.
Photo courtesy- www.jamaica.loopnews.com
Guyana
Another major carnival that takes place in the Caribbean is Guyana Mashramani, which is an annual festival celebrating this South American country becoming a Republic. As Guyana was never part of the Spanish, Portuguese, or French Empires, events such as the Jouvert parade have been adopted from these other Carnivals with nearby Trinidad being a big influence. Although the annual celebration on February 23, 2022, is carded to take place, no official confirmation has been made public in regards to this year’s activities which normally include parades of floats, costume contests, and dances in the streets accompanied by steel band music and calypso.
Brooklyn
‘West Indian-American Day Carnival’ or ‘Brooklyn Carnival’ as it is called by some is an annual celebration that takes place every Labor Day. Starting in the 1960s, the festival continues to celebrate and unite many Caribbean islands through their history, traditions, cultural pride, and expressions in one huge extravagant party. As the West Indian American Day Parade & Carnival marches into its fifth decade, no official confirmations as yet have been given surrounding this year’s festivities.
