St Pauls Carnival is an annual African Caribbean carnival

Caribbean Carnival

Caribbean Carnival is the term used for a number of events that take place in many of the Caribbean islands annually.The Caribbean's Carnivals all have several common themes all originating from Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, based on folklore, culture, religion,and tradition, not on amusement...

 held, usually on the first Saturday of July, in St Pauls, Bristol

St Pauls, Bristol

St Pauls is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, situated just north east of the city centre and west of the M32. It is bounded by the A38, the B4051 and the A4032 roads...

. The carnival started in 1967 and is run by a non-profit organisation, St Pauls Afrikan Caribbean Carnival Limited. The event includes a masquerade procession

Masquerade ceremony

A masquerade ceremony is a cultural or religious event involving the wearing of masks.Examples include the West African and African Diaspora masquerades, such as Egungun Masquerades, Northern Edo Masquerades, Caribbean Carnival and Jonkonnu.-External links:* - slideshow by Life magazine*...

 with highly ornate and colourful costumes and floats from local schools and cultural associations, a stage for professional performers, sound systems

Sound system (DJ)

A sound system is a group of DJs and engineers contributing and working together as one, playing and producing music.-Origin:The sound system concept originated in the 1950s in Kingston, Jamaica. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers to set up street parties...

 in neighbouring streets and a range of stalls selling food from a wide range of cultures. In the preceding period Mas camps create costumes for the parade and there is a week of cultural events in the days before carnival.

History

The carnival started in 1967 as a multi-cultural

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...

 event, St Pauls Festival, which was aimed at bringing together the European, African-Caribbean

British African-Caribbean community

The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...

 and Asian

British Asian

British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...

 communities living in the area. The initial organisers were the St Pauls and Environs Consultative Committee and the West Indian Development Association, aided by the vicar

Perpetual curate

A Perpetual Curate was a clergyman of the Church of England officiating as parish priest in a small or sparsely peopled parish or districtAs noted below the term perpetual was not to be understood literally but was used to indicate he was not a curate but the parish priest and of higher...

 of St Agnes Church and Carmen Beckford, Bristol's first community development worker. Researcher Thomas Fielding said that the first event had an "extravagant multiculturalism which juxtaposed steel bands

Steelpan

Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago...

, Scottish dancers and a weight lifting

Powerlifting

Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...

 competition."
Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

ian Francis Salanday became organiser in 1975 and under his leadership, the festival incorporated more elements of traditional Caribbean carnival, such as the Mas parade and sound systems. In 1991 the event was renamed St Pauls Afrikan-Caribbean Carnival, but it retains "an inclusive ethos and still attracts a wide range of Bristolian celebrants."

The festival ran every year until 2002, when it was cancelled. Amirah Cole, of the organising committee said: "We've worked hard to get funding for carnival projects and events, but it has been much more difficult to get support for training and extra staff." "The fact the carnival happens each year is down to the hard work of a few association members who give their time freely throughout the year to plan and fund-raise" "Carnival has grown so much that this is no longer sustainable."
In 2006 the carnival was not held as the organising committee took a year out to re-structure and develop plans for a festival in 2007 which would be part of the commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807.

Carnival returned in 2007 improving its diversity and popularity, with a reported 70,000 people attending in 2008.