J'ouvert

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J'ouvert - a contraction of the French jour ouvert, or day open (morning) - is a large street party during carnival in the eastern Caribbean region. J'ouvert is celebrated on many islands, including Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

J'ouvert (pronounced 'joovay' locally) involves calypso/soca bands and their followers dancing in the capital cities of the various islands. The festival starts well before dawn and peaks a few hours after sunrise when revelers have tired out or been bludgeoned into submission by strong rum. Part of the tradition involves smearing paint, mud, or oil on the participants known as Jab Jabs. This is done in remembrance of a civil disturbance in Port of Spain, Trinidad, when the people smeared themselves with oil to avoid being recognized.

J'ouvert is also a feature of New York City's Labor Day Parade held in Brooklyn and Notting Hill Carnival in London.