Carnival - For Culture Or For Cash?

I recently read an article in the Barbados Advocate on maintaining the historical and cultural meaning of the Crop Over festival in Barbados.  Unlike most carnivals, Barbados' festival heralds back to 1688 from the days of colonial sugar cane production and is the celebration of the cane's harvest - or as the name suggests, the end of that year's crop.

Since the early 1900's this festival has moved more into the mainstream Roman-Carnival festival, mirroring neighboring Trinidad & Tobago's festivities and moving away from the Crop-Harvest festival that it once was.  It was recently suggested that the Grand Kadooment street parade be extended to 2 days (as is Trinidad's and Brazil's Carnivals) and there was also the recent addition of the "Fore Day Morning Jam" which is a take on traditional J'ouvert.

So, the question is this...does the move towards a more commercial Carnival mean the loss of culture?  Or is it just a smart strategy to gain market share over the hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of tourists that travel to participate in global Carnival celebrations.  For that matter...have Trinidad, Brazil and Mardi Gras (the more popular Carnivals) also lost their cultural affiliation, and is Carnival now only a lucrative business model to beef up tourism?

Information on Crop Over
Image Courtesy: http://www.GoCaribbean.about.com

    

This blog is affiliated with Carnival Kicks, an e-commerce enterprise that provides shoes, clothing and accessories for Masqueraders, Entertainers, Dancers or just anyone wanting to dress like a Diva!