Traditionally, major festivals have been mediums for bringing about change. The same is true today. Festivals allow people to not only speak about daily living but also to give voice to their inner griefs, resentments and joys. Today like in times past festivals carried peace and conflict. The masks and the songs can teach or curse while also highlighting issues to which authorities must respond or change.
The 2019 organizers seemed to be struggling with the quandary of superficially holding on to the traditional aspect of the “Real Mas,” (eg.sensay) only for its assumed economic benefit and less for its revolutionary mandate of explosive creativity, inventiveness and dynamism. Hence the appalling lack of financial investment in the traditional aspects of the ‘Mas’ in 2019.
The organizers must have also grappled with an older generation’s difficulty with internalizing contemporary aspects of the ‘Mas’. These would have included the bouyon music from the electronic bands, scantily clad bodies ‘in their faces’ and the flagrant use of mind-altering substances by both young and old revelers.
Does this reflect their ignorance of the psychological and spiritual aspects of the Festival? Have they chosen to forget the democratic ownership of the road, the right to freedom of expression, and the joy of just BEING which were embraced by the oppressed majority on the carnival Mondays and Tuesdays of the past?
I do hope that as the organizers of the ‘Real Mas’ pursue the prescribed postmortems and plan for 2020 they will CHANGE and embrace the spirit of Sankofa; a return to the past for guidance and clarity with regards to the PURPOSE and FUNCTION of the ‘Real Mas’ in the future Dominican society.
May the spirits of the ancestors be pleased.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
