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J’ouvert: carnival starts before the sun

J’ouvert, from jour ouvert in French Creole, is the dawn fete that opens carnival’s big days: from 4 in the morning, the street belongs to the crowd, to mud, to paint and to music, with bouyon leading in Dominica.

The freest fete of carnival

At J’ouvert, no beautiful costumes: clothes you can get dirty, mud, paint, cocoa depending on the island, and one simple rule, dance until sunrise. In Dominica, the sound systems and bands play the bouyon of the year while Roseau wakes up in fete mode.

A shared Creole tradition

J’ouvert lives across the whole Creole and Caribbean world, from Trinidad to Dominica and as far as the diaspora carnivals in Brooklyn and London. It is one of the moments when the link between bouyon and the street is most visible.

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