CHRIS AQUILINA

Tad-Deheb Carnival Company

In previous years, I had to sacrifice time from work to go to the workshop. Today, the sacrifice is not going to the workshop. I have been working in Carnival for over 40 years now, so it has been very difficult.

We will be participating in the costume exhibitions this year but, like other companies, we are very few people at the workshop, which is a huge difference from last year when we were working day and night from the start of January up until Carnival.

While I appreciate the efforts to keep the Carnival spirit alive this year, it is not in our DNA to just create something and leave it there for show. We are usually celebrating every step of the way.

Sponsors have also been hard to find. It is just how business works; if they have money to market themselves they will help, but at the moment everyone has to fend for themselves.

As for Carnival 2022, we are still uncertain on whether it will be able to take place or not – hopefully it will, of course. Nonetheless, one needs a lot of money in order to maintain the level of quality that Carnival companies have been producing.

Everything just feels so far away, and it makes you question whether things will really go back to normal or if we will have enough time and money to invest in our next project.

Nonetheless, I do not think that the cancellation of Carnival events will dampen people’s spirits. On the contrary, celebrations will be even greater once we are able to carry on with Carnival as we know it.

Once we start coming out of this pandemic bit by bit, I firmly believe that Carnival enthusiasts will be heading down to their workshops more frequently and giving it their all for the next one.

Our fear is that people have become lazier after being at home for so long and it will take a while to inject that adrenaline back. This applies for all feasts not just Carnival.