Fall Preview: 12 Reasons To Visit the Caribbean This Season

Words by Jesse Serwer
Photo by Martei Korley

The fall is slow season in the Caribbean. With the threat of hurricanes looming and tourists all traveled-out after summer, it’s generally a quiet, low-key time to visit the Caribbean. Still, there’s ’nuff action, if you know where to look. Here’s a dozen events worth jetting to the Caribbean for this autumn.

1. Belize Carnival/September Celebrations
(Belize City, Belize; Sept. 1-Sept. 21)

Photo: Belize Tourism Board

The fall is the only time of the year when you won’t find any of the Caribbean’s 28 island nations celebrating Carnival. But there is one place considered to be a part of the region that dedicates an entire month to bacchanal this time of year. September is feting season in Belize, the former British territory between Mexico and Guatemala, and the vibe in Belize City is as Caribbean as it gets without being officially detached from the continent. And, if you must be on an island to feel you’re officially participating, the celebrations spill over onto the many cayes that dot Belize’s coast.

After a summer-long build up, Belize Carnival officially gets going on the 1st of September, with the main event happening on Sept. 12, a/k/a St. George’s Caye Day, a holiday commemorating British troops’ successful defense of the territory from Spanish invasion). J’Ouvert starts at 5 am throughout the streets of Belize City, followed by the official Carnival Road March at 1pm, and an after-party in the National Stadium at night. After some official downtime, things climax on Sept. 21 when Belize’s (fairly new) independence is celebrated nationwide. Read “Eight Things You Must Do at Belize’s Summer Celebrations” by Dion Peyre for more on Belize Carnival.

2. Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival (Sept. 3-5)

Photo: Curacao Tourist Board

A spin-off of the original North Sea Jazz Festival held in Holland (still held yearly in early July) the Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival is one of the Caribbean’s largest annual concerts, drawing visitors from across Europe, North and South America and the Caribbean to the Dutch island. Performances take place across three stages (each named for a different musical legend—Sam Cooke, Celia Cruz and Sir Duke, aka Stevie Wonder) at the World Trade Center in Curacao’s Piscadera Bay, and have featured Prince, Stevie Wonder and Sting, to name a few. While we’d like to see more Caribbean flavor —only Wyclef Jean represents the region this year—this year’s lineup is stacked with heavyweight names in the areas of R&B, jazz and Latin music, including Usher, John Legend, the Isley Brothers, Lionel Richie, Enrique Iglesias, Cassandra Wilson and the Blind Boys of Alabama. See more info on this year’s event here.

3. Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival
(Port of Spain, Trinidad; Sept. 15-29)

The Caribbean film industry is on the rise, and there’s no better celebration of this than the Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival. The region’s largest and most prestigious movie competition and showcase will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year with its most extensive programming series yet. Films premiering at TTFF this year include Bazodee, a Bollywood-style musical starring Machel Montano, and Bottom in De Road, “an exploration of the female bottom as seen through the gaze of the Caribbean man.” Sweet Micky For President, former Fugees member Pras’ documentary about kompa star Michael Martelly’s election as Haiti’s prime minister, will open the festival on Sept. 15, in its Caribbean debut. To commemorate its 10th year, the festival will also screen 10 seminal Caribbean films from years past, including The Harder They Come and Trinidadian classic Bim. Read Tishanna Williams’ feature on TTFF from here, and see more info on this year’s fest here.

4. Green Moon Festival
(Isla de San Andres, Colombia, Sept. 16-19)

Though administered by Colombia, the islands of San Andrés and Providencia are located closer to Nicaragua and, culturally, the former British colony shares more in common with the English-speaking Caribbean. San Andrés is the backdrop of Festival de la Luna Verde, or Green Moon Festival, a celebration of Caribbean music with roots running back to 1984. Programming spans the gamut of Caribbean sounds, from reggae to zouk and Colombian champeta: Beenie Man, Kassav’ and Gyptian have all performed in recent years. Acts at this year’s edition include England’s Gappy Ranks, Jamaica’s Charly Blacks, Cuba’s Septeto Santiaguero and Colombia’s Hety y Zambo. Read more about the Green Moon Festival here follow their Twitter page for updates, and read our story on how artists from San Andrés birthed a growing dancehall scene across Colombia.

5. Haiti Food + Spirits Festival
(Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Sept. 17-27)

Haitian food is ready for its spotlight, and it now has a world-class showcase to help spread L’Cuisine des Haiti to the world. The fifth edition of Chef Stephan Durand‘s Gout et Saveurs Lakay, or the Haiti Food + Spirits Festival, will bring 18 featured international chefs (including TV star Roble Ali, U.S. Virgin Islands culinary ambassador Digby Stridiron and Jamaican jerk specialist Hugh “Irie Space” Sinclair) together with Haiti’s most accomplished and popular homegrown chefs. This year’s event also coincides with Kreyol Spice, Haiti’s first restaurant week.

6. Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship
(St Philip, Barbados; Oct. 3-4)

Rallycross—a faster, more TV-friendly version of rally car racing that pits drivers head to head on a multi-surface figure-8 course—is one of the fastest-growing motorsports, spurred by the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship circuit formed in 2011 (and the participation of notable athletes from other sports). The tour made its Caribbean debut in Barbados last year, drawing 21,500 to St. Philip’s Bushy Park Racing Circuit. The event proved so successful that the tour will return for a second time to Bushy Park. Find out more info here.

7. Tobago Blue Food Festival
(Bloody Bay, Tobago; Oct. 18)
Photo: Tobago House Authority

Dasheen, eddo taro, cocoyam, ground provision. Whatever you call this starchy root vegetable, it’s as much a part of Caribbean cooking as coconut and pepper. Tobago, however, has made a claim to dasheen dominance with the advent of the Tobago Blue Food Festival, a cooking exposition, competition and celebration so named because of the color dasheen turns when cooked. Innovative chefs at the 17-year-old event, held in Tobago’s evocatively named Bloody Bay, turn the vegetable into deluxe dinners, deserts, marinades, jams, jellies, liqueurs, and even wine. Of course, this being T&T, there’s some feting to be done, as well as live musical performances and a crayfishing competition.

8. Jounen Kweyol (Oct. 25)
(Various Villages, St. Lucia)

October has become a month to celebrate Creole language and culture, not just in the Caribbean, but in Louisiana and the Seychelles. In St. Lucia, Creole Day, or Jounen Kwéyòl, is celebrated on the last Sunday of October (as opposed to Oct. 28th elsewhere), culminating a month-long program of cultural activities across the island in which Lucians are encouraged to reconnect with the island’s past by speaking Creole, wearing traditional Creole wob, and participating in all manner of traditions disappearing everyday island life. La Marguerite Flower Festival (a feast that operates in a sort of competition with August’s La Rose Festival), the Creole Film Festival and Konpétisyon Woulélaba — in which local communities are pitted against one another in St. Lucia’s own distinct variation on cricket — and the Creole Queen Pageant are a few of the events that take place during the month. On Jounen Kwéyòl itself, designated communities across the island host a Creole Mass as well as a Creole Food and Drink Fair, while musical performers take to the streets and dancers stage traditional quadrille demonstrations. For a complete look at the events of Creole Day and Creole Month, visit St. Lucia’s Folk Research Centre here.

9. World Creole Music Festival
(Roseau, Dominica; Oct. 30-Nov. 1)
Photo: Martei Korley

Set against the Nature Island’s colorful festive season, which includes Creole Day and Independence celebrations, Dominica’s World Creole Music Festival is unique in its scope, the only festival of its size in the Caribbean to focus primarily on the region’s homegrown music styles. The three-day October festival spans all variations of Creole music from konpa to zouk and Dominica’s own sounds, cadence and bouyon, along with the occasional outlier from New Orleans or Africa, as well as major reggae, dancehall and soca acts. At the moment, we have no reason to believe that this year’s event, which is scheduled to feature Chronixx, Popcaan, Lady Saw Timaya, Olatunji, Blaxx along with Dominican staples Triple Kay, Asa Bantan and Ophelia Marie, will not go on as planned. Ideally, the event—one of Dominica’s largest annual tourism draws—will serve as an opportunity to advance rebuilding efforts following the destruction caused by Tropical Storm Erika. See here for details on this year’s concert, and watch our webisode on Dominica’s Creole culture here.

10. Ramleela/Divali
(Trinidad; Nov. 1-11)
Photo: Trinidad & Tobago Tourism Development Company

With a significant portion of Trinidad’s population comprising of persons of Hindu and East Indian origin, Divali, or The Festival of Lights, is a major celebration on the island. At Divali time, you’ll find most of the population feasting on decadent East Indian and Indo-Trinidadian dishes, regardless of their own personal background; the holiday is observed by all denominations. For an outsider, the best way to experience Trinidad’s flavorful spin on the holiday is to visit one of the villages known for their elaborate light displays, such as Felicity, Patna Village, Dow Village and Penal in Central Trinidad, or the Divali Nagar (village of lights) in Chaguanas, the hub of all Divali celebrations.

For a distinctly Trini experience during the Diwali season, we recommend Ramleela, a 10-day-long outdoor theatrical spectacle that concludes with the public burning of a massive effigy, ignited by a well-aimed flaming arrow. Also known as Ramdilla, Ramleela is said to be the longest running open-air theatre in the Caribbean, brought over from India’s Bihar and Uttar Pradesh regions over 165 years ago. Today there are over 35 communities in Trinidad that stage Ramleela, and a National Ramleela Council dedicated to preserving the tradition. True to Trini form, Ramleela has evolved to include Trinidadian dialect, jokes and political commentary.

11. The First Anguilla Sculpture Symposium
(Island Harbour, Anguilla; Nov. 9-27)

Looking for an excuse to visit the beautiful beaches of Anguilla? The first event of its kind in the Caribbean, the Anguilla Sculpture Symposium will bring internationally-renowned sculptors to “Rainbow City” this November to create original public art. “This will be a unique opportunity for visitors to learn first-hand about public art and to watch artists in action as they transform raw materials into original public art works,” organizer Walter Bayer promises. Participating artists include Anguilla’s own Courtney Devonish and Cheddie Richardson and visiting members of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. To make it worth your while, four resorts located near the main venue, Island Harbour’s Art Cafe, the Alamanda Beach Club, the Arawak Beach Inn, Serenity, and Shoal Bay Villas, will offer special discounted rates. See here for more info.

12. Garifuna Settlement Day
(Dangriga, Belize, Nov. 19)
Photo: Belize Tourism Board

Finally, we have a holiday that speaks to the complexity and depth of Caribbean culture, and how the term Caribbean has come to transcend geography and place. The Garifuna (or Garinagu) people, descended from mixed African and indigenous Carib peoples, arrived on the Central American coast, specifically Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua, in the early 1800s after being expelled from St. Vincent and the Grenadines by the British, bringing with them a distinct creole culture which remains remarkably well preserved. Garifuna culture is particularly entrenched in Belize, Central America’s only English-speaking country, where Garifuna people account for about 6 percent of the population.

Nov. 19 has been a countrywide holiday in Belize since 1977, marking the day in 1802 when the first group of Garifuna people are said to have arrived in the country.  (Garifuna Settlement Day is also celebrated in Nicaragua on Nov. 19.) As with Creole Day in Dominica and St. Lucia, it’s a day to celebrate traditional food and clothing, and speak the Garifuna language. There’s even a contest held each year for Garifuna Settlement Day Queen, among other cultural events held to celebrate the day. The major festivities for the holiday occur in the town of Dangriga, including parades, street music, and traditional dancing. For more on Garifuna culture, read “Punta Rock and Paranda,” Kieran Meadows’ guide to Garifuna music, here.