St Thomas - St Thomas Carnival

Taking place during the last two weeks of April, the St Thomas Carnival features parades, food fairs, beauty pageants and calypso contests. Most of the festivities are centered in Charlotte Amalie in a specially constructed Carnival Village. Interesting sights and sounds of Carnival are mocko jumbies (costumed stilt walkers representing African spirits), scratch bands, costumed parade marchers and 50-piece steel drum bands.

The Carnival in St Thomas is the second largest Caribbean festival, exceeded only by the Carnival at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. Originating in Trinidad in 1783, the Carnival festival is rooted in West African rituals of masquerade that have been applied to the celebration of Christian Lent.