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But as one would expect, Bats avoid bands. Because of their large, delicate costumes they also keep away from the centre of crowds.

Another thing which characterises Bats is the fact that they are often in a little group, and several such groups are known to number members of the same family. One of the well-known Bat-portraying families of recent times is the Bartholomews.

These families who portray bats seem to have become rarer as we enter the first decade of the 21st century, but one is hoping that the Carnival never deserts Bats and bats never desert the Carnival.

Midnight Robber might well be carrying a coffin in his hand or as part of his headwear, and there might well be a dagger or two around his waist. Maybe one of the most disconcerting things about the Midnight Robber — apart from meeting him in broad daylight — is his manner His stalking walk, his long strides around you, the cry: Wherever I stand I stand most predominate, whenever I speak I hear the thunder roll…

Many adults have quaked in their boots during such an encounter. Many a fainthearted child has been sent running, screaming down the street.

The Midnight Robber has been known to appear in brown or red costumes but his normal apparel is black, for he can easily sneak up on you at midnight, quite unseen.

One is not sure where he comes from or at what time he entered the Carnival, but if you listen to his speech, all these things might be revealed.

The Midnight Robber, discreetly blows his whistle at all times but this is not to alert you that he is fading from the scene. No, unlike some of the other traditional Carnival characters, he is not. And he has done so well, thanks to his robberies in broad daylight, that most times he enters the Carnival with his treasure chest.

The Jab- Ja b

did not justify children running and screaming in fear Although of course, it is true to say that when two different groups of Jab- Jabs met it was like all hell let loose. And in the confrontation real blows would be shared, with the whip cracking on all parts of the body, especially the head, and with the fainthearted spectator fleeing from the scene with horror But never fear Under his costume the Jab- Jab is protected from head to toe.

In his display, the Jab- Jab refers to his whip as “rope and twine,” but one suspects it contains a lot more than rope and twine.

The Jab- Jab moves around in groups of three or four, stalking his “enemies,” other Jab- Jabs. He announces his entry on the scene by cracking his whip on the pitch road, a noise which sounds somewhat like rifle fire.

There is something forbidding, yet extremely charming about this traditional “old-time” character and one hopes that the Carnival continues to hear the rifle fire of his rope-and-twine.

The M idnight R obber

“Stop! Stop! My man, who authorised you to go into the land of my father ’s treasure…I will cut your neck and drink your blood, I will make soup with your bones…”

With words as frightening as these the Midnight Robber is apt to greet you. The broad-brimmed hat he is wearing, with the skull and crossbones, is doing just what it is meant to do - intimidate you.

To make you feel reasonably sure that that Carnival day would be your last, the

The Jab- Jab, as known in the Carnivals before the Second World War, is not only a traditional character but may well be called an old-time character. Dressed in a red-and-yellow costume with hornlike tassles on a plain head-piece, and carrying a supple plaited whip, the JabJab was a very familiar figure up to the banning of Carnival in 1942. When the first peace-time Carnival came in 1946 the Jab- Jab returned but in less numbers and the general trend in Carnivals since the war to have less “old masq” characters, affected this much feared type of masquerade.

But the Jab- Jab, despite his “ fiery ” costume, and even more fiery display,

The J ab Molasses

The Jab Molasses, or in the normal Patois expression “Jab Malassay ” (jab malassé) is one of the earliest forms of devils at the Carnival. Indeed, at the Carnival of 1848 the English writer, Charles Day, saw them, and he must have tried to describe them while keeping clear These were creatures continued on page 46

Devil Mas is one of the most popular forms of tr aditional mas in Trinidad and Tobago. Known as Jab Molassie from the union of the Patois words for “devil” and “molasses”, these masquer aders come out in short pants, wire tails, horns, pitch forks and sometimes masks, painting themselves in red, green or blue paint, mud or grease. Any spectator (especially one in a temp ting canvas of all white clothing) that crosses the path of a Jab Molassie band will pay the price of getting their clothes smeared in the ink of the devils’ choice. In the midst of it all, the Devil himself is there waiting to write more souls into his “Book of Life” (or death).

After the creatures of the night go in from J’ouvert, the pretty mas begins. On Carnival Monday morning, some of the tr aditional portr ayals take to the streets, with familiar costumes such as Minstrels, Midnight Robbers, The Bat, Wild Indian, Pierrot Grenade and Moko Jumbies. It’s a refreshing taste of the old time tr adition.

The weekend before the adults play their mas on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, the nation’s children take over the streets of Port of Spain and turn it into a k aleidoscope of colour.