Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine April 2016 | Page 86
keeping
shortknee
alive
Shortknee, a kaleidoscope of colours! Anonymous players, heads covered with white towels. Scary,
masked faces. Colourful costumes, with small round mirrors sewn on to the back and torso. Blouses
with arms extending way past the knees, puffy pants ending just under the knees. Stocking-covered
feet with small bells called “wooloes”, tied around the ankles. Talcum powder-throwing revelers, singing in the streets and in the yard of villagers, arms extended, requesting “something for the Shortknee”,
be it a snack or money. Small children are sometimes scared of Shortknee, mainly because no one
knows who is wearing the costume and whose face is behind the mask. Run when they approach! Run, because they may swat you with their long sleeves or sprinkle you with talcum
powder.
This is Shortknee in the small northern village of Hermitage, St. Patrick’s on the island of
Grenada. Shortknee is “played” during the Island’s Carnival Festival which takes
place on the 2nd Monday and Tuesday of August each year.
. . . in Grenada
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