Traditional Characters

the Jab Jab

The Jab Jab (from the French 'diable', meaning devil) dates to the period just before Emancipation in 1834. Enslaved people, forbidden from openly celebrating, played 'Canboulay' at night, wielding torches and chains. The Jab Molassie ('molasses devil') specifically mimics a worker covered in the sticky black substance from the sugar mills — a direct, subversive commentary on enslaved labour. After Emancipation, freed people took to the streets in these costumes as an act of triumphant defiance.

Key traits & performance details

• Body painted or smeared entirely in black oil, grease, or molasses

• Wears horns, a tail, and carries chains or a pitchfork

• Known for 'threatening' bystanders unless paid a small sum to stay away

• The Jab Jab variant is more colourful and acrobatic, with whips and bells

• Considered sacred by many practitioners — not merely a costume

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Jab Jab / Jab Mol

Moko Jumbie

The Moko Jumbie is one of the most visually iconic Carnival characters, walking on stilts up to 15 feet tall. The tradition comes directly from West African (particularly Igbo and Yoruba) Egungun masquerades, where stilt-walkers represented ancestral spirits brought back to earth. In Trinidad, enslaved Africans maintained the tradition as a spiritual practice. 'Moko' is thought to refer to a West African deity, while 'Jumbie' is the Caribbean word for spirit or ghost. The character is considered a protector of the community.

Key traits & performance details

• Performs on stilts ranging from 6 to 15 feet in height

• Wears a long flowing costume that conceals the stilts

• Costume often brightly coloured with feathers or fabric

• Considered a protective spirit — brings good fortune to those it encounters

• Skilled performers dance, kick, and even kneel on their stilts

• Junior 'Baby Moko Jumbie' troupes now introduce children to the tradition

Stickfighter 

Stickfighting (Kalinda or Gayelle) is perhaps the oldest tradition intertwined with Carnival, brought by enslaved West Africans and practiced at Canboulay (the pre-Emancipation torch-lit festival). After Emancipation it became the dominant street performance during Carnival season, with champion fighters achieving celebrity status. British colonial authorities repeatedly tried to suppress it, culminating in riots in the 1880s. The music accompanying fights — played on cured goatskin drums — directly influenced the development of calypso. Stickfighting is deeply connected to the spiritual practice of Orisha.

Key traits & performance details

• Wields a single polished hardwood stick (a 'bois') 3–5 feet long

• Fights are governed by strict rules — no striking below the waist

• Accompanied by chantwell singers and a drummer playing the belair rhythm

• Fighters wear minimal costume — loose pants, bare chest

• Champion fighters ('champions of the gayelle') were community heroes

• Has formal spiritual preparation — fighters may be initiated in Orisha

Dame Lorraine 

The Dame Lorraine character originated in the 18th-century French Creole planting class's elaborate pre-Lenten balls. Enslaved and free Afro-Trinidadians would mock these gatherings by donning exaggerated versions of aristocratic European dress. The character is almost always played by a man, with stuffed, comically oversized bust and hips. It is one of the earliest forms of Carnival satire in Trinidad, predating Emancipation, and represents a powerful act of social inversion.

Key traits & performance details

• Traditionally played by a man in an 18th-century French ball gown

• Wears an enormous padded bust, hips, and posterior — an intentional exaggeration

• Carries a fan or parasol and mimics aristocratic gestures

• Performance is highly comedic and often bawdy

• Accompanied by a male partner dressed as a French Creole gentleman

Burrokeet

The Burrokeet (from the Spanish 'burro', meaning donkey) is one of Trinidad's oldest surviving Carnival characters, introduced during the Spanish colonial period before the British took possession in 1797. The construction technique — a lightweight frame worn around the waist to simulate riding — may have roots in Iberian folk festival traditions. The character was widespread in the 19th century but became increasingly rare in the 20th, and is now considered an endangered Carnival tradition.

Key traits & performance details

• Performer wears a papier-mâché donkey frame around their waist

• The costume creates the illusion that the person is sitting astride a donkey

• Legs are disguised with the donkey's own legs to complete the illusion

• Character mimics the movements and gestures of riding

• One of the few characters with directly Spanish colonial roots

• Now considered endangered — preserved mainly by Carnival heritage groups

The Sailor

As Carnival competitions formalised in the post-war period, the Sailor mas evolved a competition branch. The 'King Sailor' — who leads a Fancy Sailor band — wears a costume of extraordinary elaborateness, often with wings, rolling wheels, and mechanisms that unfold on stage. The tradition of competing for 'King of the Band' titles pushed costume construction into an almost sculptural art form. The Fancy Sailor tradition runs parallel to but distinct from the mas bands that produce the iconic King and Queen of Carnival competition costumes.

Key traits & performance details

• Naval whites adorned with thousands of sequins, beads, and embroidery

• Elaborate backpiece that unfolds or expands during performance

• Band leaders (Kings) may wear costumes weighing 50–200 pounds

• Performance judged on costume, presentation, and 'playing the mas'

• Bands have their own internal hierarchies — chief, officers, sailors

• Competition held on the Savannah stage on Carnival Monday and Tuesday

Wild Indian

he Wild Indian mas grew from two sources: genuine respect for and memory of Trinidad's original Amerindian inhabitants (Arawak and Carib peoples), and contact with Native American imagery imported via the United States. Some bands play a 'Red Indian' or 'American Indian' style, while others attempt to honour specifically Caribbean Indigenous traditions. The character became central to the large band tradition of Carnival, with 'Indian' bands competing for prizes through the mid-20th century. Its relationship with representation and appropriation is actively debated in contemporary Trinidad.

Key traits & performance details

• Elaborate feathered headdresses, sometimes reaching several feet in height

• Full-body costume of feathers, beads, shells, and dyed cloth

• Warpaint on face and body

• Carries a bow, tomahawk, or spear as props

• Often organised into large bands with chiefs, warriors, and 'squaws'

• Bands spend months constructing their intricate costumes

Fancy  Sailor

As Carnival competitions formalised in the post-war period, the Sailor mas evolved a competition branch. The 'King Sailor' — who leads a Fancy Sailor band — wears a costume of extraordinary elaborateness, often with wings, rolling wheels, and mechanisms that unfold on stage. The tradition of competing for 'King of the Band' titles pushed costume construction into an almost sculptural art form. The Fancy Sailor tradition runs parallel to but distinct from the mas bands that produce the iconic King and Queen of Carnival competition costumes.

Key traits & performance details

• Naval whites adorned with thousands of sequins, beads, and embroidery

• Elaborate backpiece that unfolds or expands during performance

• Band leaders (Kings) may wear costumes weighing 50–200 pounds

• Performance judged on costume, presentation, and 'playing the mas'

• Bands have their own internal hierarchies — chief, officers, sailors

• Competition held on the Savannah stage on Carnival Monday and Tuesday

The Blue Devil

 is almost exclusively associated with the village of Paramin, a Franco-Spanish community settled since the 1700s. Unlike the Jab Jab, this character predates Emancipation and has European folk-Catholic roots mixed with African spiritual traditions. The blue colour itself is considered significant — it distinguishes Paramin's devil from others and is said to represent the supernatural. The tradition has been passed down within families for generations and almost disappeared in the 20th century before revival efforts.

Key traits & performance details

• Entire body painted in vivid blue paint (historically a clay-based mixture)

• Wears a horned papier-mâché mask with exaggerated demonic features

• Chases bystanders and threatens to smear them with blue paint

• Accompanied by a 'devil leader' who negotiates ransoms from spectators

• Performance includes acrobatic feats, crawling on the ground, and howling

The Midnight Robber

Emerged in the late 19th century, blending the archetype of the New World outlaw with African traditions of oratory and 'big talk'. He claims to be all-powerful, to have robbed kings and conquered death itself, yet he is entirely non-violent — his weapon is rhetoric. The speech (known as 'robber talk') is a theatrical monologue delivered in ornate, invented language with deep roots in West African griot traditions of praise-singing and competitive boasting.

Key traits & performance details

• Wears an enormous wide-brimmed hat decorated with skulls, coffins, and daggers

• Black cape adorned with beads, fringe, and symbols of death

• Carries a wooden pistol or dagger — never real weapons

• Demands money from onlookers through elaborate boastful speeches

• Each robber speech is unique, improvised, and often several minutes long

• Speech typically begins: 'I am the Midnight Robber, terror of all nations…'

Pierrot Grenade

Descended from the Italian Commedia dell'Arte Pierrot character that French colonists brought to Trinidad, the local Pierrot Grenade evolved into something entirely unique. Where the European Pierrot was a sad clown, the Trinidadian version became an assertive, learned character who challenges bystanders to spelling and grammar duels. Any person who refuses or fails the challenge is comically flogged with a whip. The character reflects the high value placed on education and linguistic skill in 19th-century Trinidadian society.

Key traits & performance details

• Wears a tattered costume covered in strips of cloth and mirror fragments

• Carries a book, whip, and bell

• Challenges all passersby to spell difficult words

• Delivers mock-academic speeches in 'broken Latin' and English

• Whips anyone who cannot answer — accepted as part of the performance

• Often uses large, invented words to confound and amuse the crowd

The Dragon Chinese immigrant community, late 19th century 

The Dragon mas arrived in Trinidad with Chinese indentured labourers brought to work the cane fields after Emancipation (1845 onwards). Chinese New Year dragon traditions fused with the existing Jab-devil playing tradition to create a distinct local character. The Dragon typically plays alongside devil bands and shares their territory — the streets at dawn on Jouvert morning. Over time it has absorbed elements of Carnival's broader fire-and-darkness aesthetic.

Key traits & performance details

• Wears an elaborate papier-mâché dragon head mask

• Costume often features scales, claws, and a tail

• Carries a lantern or fire prop, sometimes breathes fire

• Plays in the Jouvert (pre-dawn) celebrations as part of devil bands

• Represents the fusion of Chinese and African masquerade traditions