WORDS

There are certain terms and words I use that I take for granted. I expect everyone to know them, as they have always been a part of my vocabulary, but I now realize that my vocabulary is saturated with 'Trini' or Trinidadian words that only a Trinidadian can comprehend far less string together in the often used dialect of the island. So with that said I would like to clarify to the words - "mas", "masquearade" and the term " play mas"

mas - Mas is the Trinidadian word for masquerade. Some people prefer "mas" to carnival.

masquerade - To dress in carnival costume, dance and parade in the streets.

play mas, play mas', masquerade, play mask- To put on a costume and participate in a mas band or jump up in the streets. This is the key action of carnival from which everything else comes. The expression "to play mas" is part of Trinidadian vernacular, connected to the idea " to play yourself" or "do your thing"

Definitions taken from the glossary of Carnival - Culture in Action by Milla Cozart Riggio

Now there are also categories of mas such as pretty mas, ole mas, traditional mas, mud mas. These will be expanded on where necessary.


There are another few words I would like to clarify for people, because what is carnival for me is a country fair for others, and often when I speak of the word ecstasy people get ridiculously giddy ( I find this highly annoying) and blush with thoughts of my thesis as some sort of karma sutra or devotion to sexual pleasures. With that said these definitions I have taken from the good old oxford dictionary.

carnival
• noun 1 an annual period of public revelry involving processions, music, and dancing. 2 N. Amer. a travelling funfair or circus.

— DERIVATIVES carnivalesque adjective.
— ORIGIN Italian carnevale, from Latin carnelevamen ‘Shrovetide’, from caro ‘flesh’ + levare ‘put away’.

ecstasy
• noun (pl. ecstasies) 1 an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement. 2 an emotional or religious frenzy or trancelike state. 3 (Ecstasy) an illegal amphetamine-based synthetic drug with euphoric effects.

— ORIGIN from Greek ekstasis ‘standing outside oneself’


stage
• noun 1 a point, period, or step in a process or development. 2 a raised floor or platform on which actors, entertainers, or speakers perform. 3 (the stage) the acting or theatrical profession. 4 a scene of action or forum of debate. 5 a floor of a building. 6 each of two or more sections of a rocket or spacecraft that are jettisoned in turn when their propellant is exhausted. 7 Electronics a part of a circuit containing a single amplifying transistor or valve. 8 Geology a range of strata corresponding to an age in time, forming a subdivision of a series. 9 archaic a stagecoach.
• verb 1 present a performance of (a play or other show). 2 organize and participate in (a public event). 3 cause (something dramatic or unexpected) to happen.

— PHRASES hold the stage dominate a scene of action or forum of debate. set the stage for prepare the conditions for.
— DERIVATIVES stageable adjective.
— ORIGIN Old French estage ‘dwelling’, from Latin stare ‘to stand’.


architecture
• noun 1 the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. 2 the style in which a building is designed and constructed. 3 the complex structure of something