It is well known that “skin groups” have the particularity of cultivating a protest spirit in their functioning and of not following the schedules and the circuit established by the parade organizers.
This Fat Sunday in Pointe-à-Pitre, less than five “skin groups” took part in the big parade with fifty groups (mostly “snare groups” and “Ti Mas groups”) organized by the Groupement pour la Culture et le Carnaval en Région Pointoise, GCCRP, which started at 12 noon precisely.
All the others – around twenty – left their headquarters around 6:00 pm then made a stop in the Assainissement district, as every Sunday during the carnival season, before setting off again to attack the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre and Les Abymes. The thousands of spectators very early in the morning along the sidewalks to see the rhinestones and the sepuins of the “snare groups” stayed very late to see these “skin groups” whose costumes are often made from natural and recycled materials… If since January, they used old costumes, this Fat Sunday the outfits were new except for the group “Akiyo” that wore the combat uniform…
After 1:00 am, drums covered with a goat skin, “chacha”, “siyak”, conch and traditional songs still resounding in the Pointe-à-Pitre region.
