Story highlights
The Caribbean's hot summertime festival may have just wrapped, but we're still reveling in the color burst
Barbados' vibrant Crop Over festival ended August 4
The festival has evolved from a harvest celebration to the greatest representation of the island
Think the only world-class Caribbean carnival takes place in Trinidad and Tobago?
Not even close.
Barbados’ vibrant Crop Over summer festival, which once marked the end of the sugar crop harvest and a celebration for slaves, has evolved into the greatest representation of the island’s saucy spirit.
This year’s party wrapped on August 4, with the usual smash of color, costumes, music, food and unique history from one of the Carib’s easternmost islands.
Crop Over events range from historic remembrances such as the Ceremonial Delivery of the Last Canes, where plantation-era traditions are on display, to Foreday Morning, in which participants slather each other in mud, paint and powder, to Grand Kadooment, in which revelers wine the day away in scanty costumes of feathers and beads, grooving to soca music.
As the photo gallery above shows, the 21-mile-long island of Barbados may be small in size, but its unique spin on carnival is proof of its fervor.