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Castries holidays - love exotic!
St Lucia's Carnival is the most extravagant event on the island. Each year in the capital, Castries, throngs of people jam the streets in colourful costumes to parade to the latest soca and calypso hits. The major highlight of the carnival season is the calypso competition. The island's premier performers pit their lyrical and musical abilities in an attempt to win the coveted Calypso Monarch title. The season begins months in advance, with competitors performing nightly for audiences eager to hear the latest offerings. The carnival also features a beauty queen competition, a steel band competition called Panorama and a King and Queen of the Band competition. Individuals representing particular bands compete in elaborate costumes before a panel of judges. Amidst the revelry there is also a jam that features top soca acts from throughout the Caribbean. All of the action explodes into a kaleidoscope of colour and sound on Carnival Tuesday when the costumed bands take to the streets for a day of complete and unadulterated fun. St Lucia's Rose Festival, part of the Feast of Saint Rose De Lima, honours this regal flower with great pomp and ceremony, including a royal kingdom complete with king, queen, dignitaries and loyal subjects. Official rose proceedings take place on 30 August, but this important event demands careful preparation... and all-night partying! Every Saturday night for around a month before the festival, people meet for all-night singing and dancing sessions, raising money for the new year's costumes. At each meeting, they dress up in last year's fancy dress - as bright as the vivid colours of the local Jacquot bird that flits about the isle of St Lucia. No-one is allowed to see the current year's costumes before the big day. Everyone marches to church for the service, before parading through the streets. Then it's off to the main hall for the Grande Fete. While the "king" and "queen" of the Rose Festival may not be VIPs, St Lucia's social hierarchy is out in strength on this day, with all the local bigwigs, government members and even the prime minister attending the occasion. When the singing gets going, led by the shatwel (lead singer), drums start beating, guitars start playing and the shak-shaks (similar to maracas) start shaking, the party becomes so exuberant that it continues well into the next day.
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Castries Vacations site
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