The most anticipated celebration of the year. Pack your brightest outfit and get ready to hit the streets with us for six full weeks of nonstop partying during the island's longest holiday: Sugar Mas.
It's been St. Kitts' preferred way of ringing in the new year since the 1950s, when costumed masqueraders, steel pan drum bands, and pageant queens first began to take to the streets. Carnivals arose as a celebration of life and the joys of community—influenced by a history of pre-emancipation slave revolts that involved folklore, song, and dance—and have taken on new life as a month-long mainstay of Kittitian culture.
Today, fetes, dance parties, and parades take place throughout the island, drawing crowds filled with joyous locals and curious travelers alike. Bejeweled dancers in extravagant costumes, stilt-legged moko jumbies, and excited revelers turn the island's streets into a dance floor as the upbeat tempos of soca fill the air.