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By ONIKA HENRY

The covid19 pandemic has given us the time and space to analyse the value of mas in our society. It seems that the adage is true: you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Many of us are experiencing the Carnival tabanca and trying to figure out new ways of experiencing the release, the freedom, the healing and the detoxifying collective joy that comes from this yearly ritual.
As a sexologist, the value of Carnival for me goes beyond the intense sexual display, never-ending party and exhibitionism that you see. Those are superficial from my perspective. Carnival is an opportunity to explore the tools our elders left us that can be used to achieve “sexual wholeness and wellness,” or for the “responsible use and channelling of sexual energy.”
In my work, I have recognised that many of our narratives, our beliefs and attitudes around sexuality, are as a result of harmful colonial impositions. These impositions cause mental and emotional blocks that shut down our bodies and make sex painful or uncomfortable. Our sex is very rarely described as something that connects us to self, or to our partner, and definitely not to a sacredness or divinity.
Drawing from my experiences and training as a sexologist and theatre artist, I have come to believe that “Carnival gives post-colonial societies tools to reclaim our ancestral wisdom in order to achieve sexual well-being.” And let me be clear here that I see our Carnival as a way of resisting and rebelling, and also as a tool for catharsis and transformation; as a form founded on the values, rituals, beliefs and sensitivities of our African ancestors.
Carnival has and gives room or makes space for "different-ness" – it presents us with a context or framework for letting go our limited and binary view of gender and sexuality.
Many, if not most of our African, Asian and First Peoples ancestors understood gender and sexuality in a much more diverse and equal way. Division of work was not based on your genitalia, but on your tendency and inclination. Women were seen as equally powerful and often possessed the same roles as men. Ritualistic cross-dressing had no stigma attached. People who were transgender, inter-sexed, or non-heterosexual, were seen as people with special gifts or purpose in this world.
Think about that, and then think about the many kinds of characters we have created and continue to create in our festival. A person of any sex or gender can play any character. Women can play sailors or midnight robber, men can play baby doll, dame Lorraine and even jamette. Moko jumbies have no gender or sex. These characters, because they have a role, have meaning and have value. We must therefore see our Carnival as an analogy for diversity of all types.
In Carnival, all bodies, but especially melanated, voluptuous ones, ones with disabilities, intersexed bodies – bodies that have been traditionally discarded and despised in a Western context – belong.

Carnival – a space for freedom and expressing sexuality for healing

The sexuality of people of colour was viewed and treated as pathological or diseased and animalistic in nature. Dark bodies were abused, chained and dehumanised bodies. Carnival empowers us to reclaim and redefine sexuality on our own terms. We can reassert our sexuality as something powerful, fun and liberating, and owned entirely by us – we decide how we dress, how we dance, and with whom we dance. We decide when and how to display any part of our bodies. This is one form of healing.
Through characters, we can choose to act out, express and experience catharsis. I’ve witnessed women taking charge of their own healing, regaining their power on their own terms, through playing jab molassie/black devil after surviving sexual violence.

Carnival provides community support, achieving sexual wholeness and authenticity

A Carnival community will sing with you, chant with you or dance and hold ceremony with you and create an energetic healing container for you. The ritualistic group prep for the portrayal of some Carnival activities and characters, is a safe space and a brave space. Kalinda, our locally-grown martial arts form builds a feeling of confidence, and helps channel anger in a healthy way. This is a space in which members of our sexual minority communities build resilience and learn to resolve conflicts surrounding sexual identity.

Carnival is a remedy

Clinically speaking, I can fit our Carnival neatly into Dr Patti Britton’s MEBES Model for Sex Coaching.
Carnival addresses the following aspects of sex
* Mental – you can find that character that you identify with as your sexual personality and imagine the thoughts and attitudes of this character that maybe you want to embody, to understand or to change within yourself.
* Emotional – our music and lyrics create a catharsis for hurt, pain and isolation, or they lead to the joy, bliss and wonder of romance and love.
* Body and physical – the body bears the burden and remembers trauma, even when the mind forgets. Our movements and dance connect us to our physicality, our sensations and breath, and this brings healing and release from the numbness and pain that comes from trauma.
* Energetic – Carnival exposes you to the existence of sexual energy and your power and ability to sense and manipulate that energy. You can then learn to channel it into responsible and creative ways.
* Spiritual – the music, the movements, the chants, the rhythms, and your intentions strategically combined and integrated, can send you into a such state of total acceptance and bliss, that you begin to feel at one with life itself. Sounds like High Mas doesn’t it?
Take a closer, deeper, look into our authentic and traditional Carnival arts and see the gifts our elders have left for us. What can you take, that’s safely healing for you?
*(This is an excerpt from the 2019 TEDxPortofSpain Talk by sexologist Onika Henry, titled Reclaiming sexual identity through Carnival).

Onika Henry is a Tobago-based, trained sex educator (MEd Human Sexuality) and a certified sex coach. She designs and implements workshops, training, and psycho-educational counselling, to address sexual health concerns.
Website: https://onikahenry.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ohenryconsultancy/
Contact: 381-3049
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