Individual characters from All of the Living.
Baby dolls A family effort
Author-inspired traditional mas comes to life...
Tracey Sankar-Charleau’s Red Thread Cycle—All the Dead, All the Living baby doll mas band is an addition to the mas-woman’s brilliant portfolio of Traditional Mas portrayals. The title of the mini-band is taken from a section in poet Shivanee Ramlochan’s debut collection, Everybody Knows I Am A Haunting (Peepal Tree Press, 2017).
The mas band consists of two sections, All The Dead and All The Living, whose names are also taken from a section of Ramlochan’s book.
The band consists of individual handmade baby doll costumes, each of which comes with a dress, pants, bonnet, mask, gloves, bag, umbrella, and doll.
There are seven costumes in the All of the Living section, and five in the All of the Dead section.
All components of the costume are handmade.
This is a real family effort, as Sankar-Charleau’s mother assisted with creating the costumes, and the sizes for each costume are based on her partner and children. The patterns used to make the dolls were also based on the faces and hands of Sankar-Charleau and her children. Each costume can contest as an individual.
There are three sizes, small, medium and large, which are adjustable at the arms, waist and legs.
If a larger size is needed, Sankar-Charleau said the individual should sign up as soon as possible so that one can be made for them.
Sankar-Charleau said she began thinking about doing an individual baby doll mas in 2014, but from the child’s point of view.
She said: “The Baby Doll character is a satirical portrayal of a mother with an illegitimate baby. Often the masquerader portrays a gaily dressed younger woman, with a frilled dress, gloves, and a bonnet. In all instances she carries a doll representing the illegitimate child.
“The masquerader usually stops male passers-by and various audience members, accusing them of fathering the child. She then asks or demands money from the new-found ‘father’ to pay for milk, clothing, other needs, and/or to simply cease her accusations. It was first noted in the late-nineteenth-century carnival and was regularly played until the 1930’s. This mas is played by both men and women.
“There is no known reference to this mas being played before the 1900s, but Errol Hill indicates that the Mas has its origins in the late 19th century. There was a ban on transvestite bands in 1895 that may have impacted this character’s portrayal.”
Hill states: “She may have been imported from the northern West Indies where she appears in fold dramas or from the New Orleans Mardi Gras. A similar character, known as the Babo, or old woman, was part of a traditional play acted during the carnival in Thrace.
“She carried an object representing her seven-month-old child born out of wedlock of a father whose name she did not know.”
Both types of baby doll characters are represented in Sankar-Charleau’s mas, with some costumes being almost modest, while others are skimpy and more provocative. She said the costumes give adults the chance to be whimsical and playful.
Sankar-Charleau said there is an element of necromancy involved in the creation of the dolls.
“Each doll has a ritual attached to it, and an element that has gone through a ritual has been placed into a different part of each doll. There are five Saint dolls, based on Catholic Saints, who were martyred for their work.
These are La Morenata—“Black Little One” Holy Grotto; Saint Monica, patron saint of mothers, wives and abuse victims; La Divina Pastora “The Dougla Madonna;”
St Martin de Porres, patron saint of mixed races; St Gerard-Majella, patron saint of pregnant women. The dolls are sleeping, closer to Carnival we will do a small ritual with drums and they will get raised.”
The mas has given her anxiety attacks, brought upheaval, kept changing on her. As with most old mas practitioners, Sankar-Charleau puts herself into her work.
She doesn’t portray a mas, but it manifests itself through her. The skin of each doll has hand-embroidered sayings related to abuse of various types faced by children and abused women. Part of the inspiration for the mas comes from living through a 20- year abusive relationship and Sankar-Charleau’s personal observations of how single women and children are treated in society, as well as persons who are mentally ill and those who have been abused.
She said: “In our society, children are often expected to be seen and not heard.
Hush your mouth, don’t talk in the presence of adults, you know how we used to get it long time. Children need a voice. These are all heavy things written on the dolls’ bodies. They can be a teaching aid, or help with therapy for abused children.
“I want the mas to say, ‘look me here, I have a voice, don’t you dare turn your eyes away from me, as with any child, Mommy, Mommy, look me here, I have something to say.’”
Costumes cost $2,500 with the doll, $2,000 without, plus a $300 registration fee.
There is a payment plan available. The final day for payment is February 15.
For more information find crickcracktraditionalmas on Instagram, email tsankarcharleau@gmail.com and call 739-2511.
There are five Saint dolls, based on Catholic Saints, who were martyred for their work. These are La Morenata—“Black Little One” Holy Grotto; Saint Monica, patron saint of mothers, wives and abuse victims; La Divina Pastora “The Dougla Madonna;”
St Martin de Porres, patron saint of mixed races; St Gerard-Majella, patron saint of pregnant women.
The mas band consists of two sections, All The Dead and All The Living, whose names are also taken from a section of Ramlochan’s book.
The band consists of individual handmade baby doll costumes, each of which comes with a dress, pants, bonnet, mask, gloves, bag, umbrella, and doll.
There are seven costumes in the All of the Living section, and five in the All of the Dead section.
All components of the costume are handmade.
This is a real family effort, as Sankar-Charleau’s mother assisted with creating the costumes, and the sizes for each costume are based on her partner and children. The patterns used to make the dolls were also based on the faces and hands of Sankar-Charleau and her children. Each costume can contest as an individual.
There are three sizes, small, medium and large, which are adjustable at the arms, waist and legs.
If a larger size is needed, Sankar-Charleau said the individual should sign up as soon as possible so that one can be made for them.
Sankar-Charleau said she began thinking about doing an individual baby doll mas in 2014, but from the child’s point of view.
She said: “The Baby Doll character is a satirical portrayal of a mother with an illegitimate baby. Often the masquerader portrays a gaily dressed younger woman, with a frilled dress, gloves, and a bonnet. In all instances she carries a doll representing the illegitimate child.
“The masquerader usually stops male passers-by and various audience members, accusing them of fathering the child. She then asks or demands money from the new-found ‘father’ to pay for milk, clothing, other needs, and/or to simply cease her accusations. It was first noted in the late-nineteenth-century carnival and was regularly played until the 1930’s. This mas is played by both men and women.
“There is no known reference to this mas being played before the 1900s, but Errol Hill indicates that the Mas has its origins in the late 19th century. There was a ban on transvestite bands in 1895 that may have impacted this character’s portrayal.”
Hill states: “She may have been imported from the northern West Indies where she appears in fold dramas or from the New Orleans Mardi Gras. A similar character, known as the Babo, or old woman, was part of a traditional play acted during the carnival in Thrace.
“She carried an object representing her seven-month-old child born out of wedlock of a father whose name she did not know.”
Both types of baby doll characters are represented in Sankar-Charleau’s mas, with some costumes being almost modest, while others are skimpy and more provocative. She said the costumes give adults the chance to be whimsical and playful.
Sankar-Charleau said there is an element of necromancy involved in the creation of the dolls.
“Each doll has a ritual attached to it, and an element that has gone through a ritual has been placed into a different part of each doll. There are five Saint dolls, based on Catholic Saints, who were martyred for their work.
These are La Morenata—“Black Little One” Holy Grotto; Saint Monica, patron saint of mothers, wives and abuse victims; La Divina Pastora “The Dougla Madonna;”
St Martin de Porres, patron saint of mixed races; St Gerard-Majella, patron saint of pregnant women. The dolls are sleeping, closer to Carnival we will do a small ritual with drums and they will get raised.”
The mas has given her anxiety attacks, brought upheaval, kept changing on her. As with most old mas practitioners, Sankar-Charleau puts herself into her work.
She doesn’t portray a mas, but it manifests itself through her. The skin of each doll has hand-embroidered sayings related to abuse of various types faced by children and abused women. Part of the inspiration for the mas comes from living through a 20- year abusive relationship and Sankar-Charleau’s personal observations of how single women and children are treated in society, as well as persons who are mentally ill and those who have been abused.
She said: “In our society, children are often expected to be seen and not heard.
Hush your mouth, don’t talk in the presence of adults, you know how we used to get it long time. Children need a voice. These are all heavy things written on the dolls’ bodies. They can be a teaching aid, or help with therapy for abused children.
“I want the mas to say, ‘look me here, I have a voice, don’t you dare turn your eyes away from me, as with any child, Mommy, Mommy, look me here, I have something to say.’”
Costumes cost $2,500 with the doll, $2,000 without, plus a $300 registration fee.
There is a payment plan available. The final day for payment is February 15.
For more information find crickcracktraditionalmas on Instagram, email tsankarcharleau@gmail.com and call 739-2511.
There are five Saint dolls, based on Catholic Saints, who were martyred for their work. These are La Morenata—“Black Little One” Holy Grotto; Saint Monica, patron saint of mothers, wives and abuse victims; La Divina Pastora “The Dougla Madonna;”
St Martin de Porres, patron saint of mixed races; St Gerard-Majella, patron saint of pregnant women.