Grenada Jab Jab J’Ouvert

Sunday night was J’Ouvert, a Grenadian celebration part of Carnival weekend. People dress up in horns, chains and drums covered in motor oil from head to toe. As visitors walk through the parade people cover you in motor oil, chocolate and paint. For a full history on the event check out this post in Travel Grenada.

It is an incredibly long day, with the parade beginning at 4 am and going on until late in the morning. You can choose to buy a festival package, which we did, that brought us to a massive party in the harbor with drinks, a dj and food. We got to the party around 11, where we drank aggressive amounts of booze leading up to the 4am parade.

The streets are completely closed down and as soon as the parade starts people are covering you in chocolate. I had assumed that part of the festival would be more towards the end of the night, but nope. Right when the parade starts people are dousing you in whatever they have. It was surprisingly less sticky and uncomfortable than it sounds. Or maybe we were all just too drunk to care. The streets are lined with vendors serving Stag and Carib and local eats like saltfish fish cakes and oil downs. I highly recommend stopping to eat to avoid the 24 hour hangover I had following J’Ouvert.

Finally, at around 7:30 am we called it quits and took a water taxi home where everyone took to the beach to try and clean off before heading home. The chocolate came off easy, but I am still working on the motor oil.

Must do event if you’re ever in Grenada, just make sure to wear clothes you’re willing to throw away afterwards!