ABOUT The CROP OVER Festival
Crop Over is Barbados' most popular and colorful festival. This two month long festival has origins that can be traced back to the 1780's, a time when Barbados was the world's largest producer of sugar. At the end of the sugar season, there was always a huge celebration to mark the culmination of another successful sugar cane harvest - the Crop Over celebration.
As the sugar industry in Barbados declined, so did the Crop Over festival and in the 1940's the festival was terminated completely. However, the festival was revived in 1974 as a way to celebrate the island's culture and promote national pride. The festival includes craft exhibitions, calypso and soca competitions and of course, the paint, beads and feathers of Foreday Morning and Kadooment Day.
The Crop Over Festival is an 8-week celebration and "last lap" is the most anticipated week of the festival and its climax. From that Wednesday, every minute is accounted for and their are events back to back. Revelers can take part in all inclusive events (free food and free drinks all night), shows, breakfast fetes, cooler cruises and more!
Foreday Morning begins in the early hours of the Saturday before Kadooment Day. Foreday Morning begins at 1am with revealers meeting their band and parading in a party through the streets of the capital covered in paint and powder and ends at 7am Saturday morning.
After resting (if you don't go to a fete that night) Saturday into Sunday, you'll wake up bright and early on Monday morning to meet your band at the National Stadium, where you'll show off your colorful mas costume and begin the day long party. Most bands finish the route around 4pm and enjoy lunch. After folks eat, they will often jump up with other bands as they finish their procession at the bottom of Spring Garden Highway or until their feet can't take it.