Mas Costume Headdress
Date2015
MediumSynthetic feathers, plastic (PVC), elastic, adhesive (hot glue)
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (overall length x height x width): 20 × 10 × 20in. (50.8 × 25.4 × 50.8cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
DescriptionMas costume headdress made and worn by a student during the 2015 Mas Camp. The headdress is constructed from blue and yellow synthetic feathers attached to a cardboard base which is decorated with plastic gems and features a black elastic band that goes around the head.
Object number2015.229.3
NotesSubject Note: During the summer of 2015, 22 young people plus 84 adult and student volunteers, children, and students from Our Piece of the Pie participated. Costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche created 4 large costumes – a spectacular Queen and three Junior Queen outfits - along with experienced assistants Lerry Cooper and Tanya Bynoe, and many volunteer parents. Artistic director Harold Springer, dance teacher Clerona Cain, and dance assistant Asher-Lee Plummer trained the students in “displaying” their costumes in a parade. They formed a Carnival “Band” called the Exotic One’s, with nine sections of masqueraders in different color schemes portraying the theme of “Hollywood in Colors.” The Band performed with their costumes in the Taste of the Caribbean Festival at the Riverfront, the Wadsworth Atheneum Block Party, and the West Indian 53th Anniversary Independence Parade and Festival.Subject Note: A significant wave of West Indian immigration to the U.S. began in the 1940s. Many settled in the Hartford area because the labor shortage of World War II meant there were available jobs in the tobacco fields along the Connecticut River Valley. Men worked in the fields while women often found work as housekeepers, teachers, nurses, and aides. Local organizations helped transition new immigrants to Connecticut culture and offered friendship, housing, economic opportunities, and community connections. Today, Connecticut’s West Indian community includes immigrants from all the islands in the Caribbean. They have established significant sports, cultural, and social clubs, dance and music groups, and produce an annual week-long festival that attracts audiences from all over the Northeast. With Greater Hartford now being home to the third largest West Indian community in the nation, beloved traditions like Carnival have been transplanted and sustained here.
In 1962, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago claimed their Independence from Great Britain. Since that year, the West Indian Parade and Independence Celebration has been a highlight of Hartford’s summer activities. The week of activities includes many events taking place at the different island clubs around Hartford, and features headlining musicians who perform at the West Indian Social Club. The celebration concludes with a parade and festival in Hartford featuring floats, steel band performances, and masqueraders displaying brilliant costumes.
The Hartford celebration is based on Carnival, a pre-Lenten celebration of spring and renewal in the islands, especially Trinidad. Masquerading, or playing Mas is an essential part of Carnival. Mas represents a theatrical adoption and presentation of roles and characters that originally expressed mockery of upper classes. Colorful, often spectacular costumes designed by traditional Mas artists depict fanciful themes or current issues. Gossamer fabrics, plumes and feathers, sequins and gems used in previous years are recycled to express the new year’s themes. During Carnival parades, groups of masqueraders form bands and dance to calypso or soca music. Carnival bands have sections each led by a “frontliner” wearing a costume with a “backpack” frame that supports a headpiece. “Individual” character costumes are bigger still, with wings created from fabric stretched over a wire frame. The most elaborate costumes, the King and Queen, require bent steel frames on wheels so the person carrying the heavy costume can lead the band through the parade. As West Indians have spread out from the islands, Carnival has been transplanted to cities around the world during different times of the year. Mas and Carnival serve as central expressions of Caribbean cultural identity and heritage.
From 2011-2020, the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society partnered with the Connecticut Caribbean International Carnival Association to offer an annual summer youth employment program that trains Hartford youth in Carnival traditions central to their ethnic background. At the six-week “Mas Camp,” participants learned about the history and role of Carnival and masquerade. The teens created their own costumes following themes and color schemes that they chose. Hartford costume maker Keimani “Q” Delpeche, who grew up in the Mas tradition in Trinidad and Boston, taught design and building of all the types of costumes. Choreographers including Clerona Cain and Coryse Villarouel developed dance routines with the students to train them in “displaying” their costumes in a parade. Some former students became peer educators helping to supervise Mas Camp activities in later years. The mentorship of several committed community educators and cultural leaders supported the teens and provided positive role models.
The students and staff, along with volunteers from the community, formed a Carnival band they named Exotic One’s. Each year the group would choose a new theme. Exotic One’s presented their costumes and dance routines at the Wadsworth Atheneum Block Party, the Taste of the Caribbean Festival at the Riverfront, and at the West Indian Independence Celebration Parade and Festival in Bushnell Park. Through Mas Camp, the community received a professional quality Carnival Band – 5 sections and 45 dancers in 2017 that participated in important local events with costumes totally made in Hartford. The beauty of the costumes displayed by Hartford’s own masqueraders in the parade and festival, along with the excitement of their dance routines, bring a tremendous energy and pride to the city’s West Indian communities. Mas Camp has helped to ensure that the Carnival tradition continues by training a new generation in the art of Mas making. In 2017, Mas Camp was selected as one of 50 exemplary youth programs nationwide by the National Arts and Heritage Youth Program.
Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this program.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
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