GET ON BAD

“Every time we hear Soca music

We getting on bad, bad, bad.

Everybody misbehaving….so much people jumpin

This is the place to unwind”

The above lyrics are taken from Soca music of popular Trinidad and Tobago singer MACHEL MANTANO.

This is the kind of music that is the essence of Caribbean Carnival.

For the newly initiated, there’s the witnessing of throwing paint and mud on whoever is in the circle of revelers.

To get into the spirit the imbibing of alcohol is a must; today there’s the smoking of weed without legal retribution.

Thousands of dollars were spent on costumes and masks, representing animals, ancient gods, with loudspeakers mounted on 15-foot truck beds, as the parade ran through a city route to an assigned park. In this year 2025, Baltimore MD., it was Druid Hill Park.

For 2 days in Baltimore, it was massive, despite the threat of rain. Revelers came, TO GET ON BAD!!!!

This carnival had a message, “WE NOT GOING BACK” A fist pump to the TRUMP administration.

(Photo of soccer star Wilfried Zaha)

Most of the participants were children born to Caribbean parents who immigrated to the United States in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

CARNIVAL by tradition celebrates the end of a bad time, and the beginning of a new and better period. e.g. the end of Winter, and the beginning of Spring. The end of slavery, followed by the beginning of Emancipation.

This expression to show the glee of a new beginning continues to incorporate all the trappings of ancient Europe and its religious divisions, who celebrated with or without masques.

At Druid Hill Park, the hit song BOOTS on the GROUND, saw both young and old join as a congregation in celebrating their freedom to GET ON BAD!!! At least for 2 days without fear of consequences.