PHOTOS-Cardiff Mas Carnival 2011

It had been a weekend of changeable weather with it being really sunny one minute then really heavy downpours minutes later.
Luckily on Saturday it stayed dry for most of the day and the whole of the Mas Carnival parade which left Cardiff Bay at 11:30am.

It snaked it’s way up Bute Street, passing many families and communities lining the streets whom joined in the carnival atmosphere.


The party ventured alongside the familiar sights of Butetown but even this part of the City wasnt immune from the continual change and building that is still taking place across the whole City!
As the road was closed for a good hour these workmen just had to stop work, wait and grin and bare it! Twas really hard work for them not to enjoy the multitude of dancers going past!

The parade is predominently made up of people from the community of Butetown and was originally just called the Butetown Carnival but as it has been so successful it has grown into the more recently named Cardiff Mas Carnival.



After leaving the heartlands of Butetown the parade made it’s way into the City Centre via the familiar sights of John Lewis and the Golden Cross.

My favourite part of the parade was a group of youngsters who would drum, chant and walk whom would then just suddenly stop.
Two members of the groups would then free-style infront of the group, dancing and breaking shapes to the amazement of the crowd.


As the rest of the parade would carry on moving this group would then have to speedily run to catch up with everyone else and then stop further along just to give another free-style show to the newly awaiting crowd.

This group was so full of energy and enthusiasm and it really did catch the imagination of the crowd – so much so that this chap decided to join them and started free-styling himself! (he was loving it!)






As St Mary Street is *still* being upgraded the parade took a slightly different route this year and ventured down Mill Lane and The Hayes. Because the weather stayed warm it meant that this whole area was buzzing with people eating and drinking with the parade merrily passing them all by. I think the area that has been created outside Cardiff library and John Lewis is amazing for the general public to enjoy displays like the one from this Mas Carnival.





Passing via Wharton Street and onto the familiar route of St Mary Street where everyone stopped for a good 30 minutes display to the public – known as a ‘Street Jam’. This is where the dancers performed full routines, musicians could play longer tracks and one act decided on some flame throwing!

Unfortunately the flame throwing was cut short due to an ‘incident’. I was stood next to it all and the sticks were successfully lit and he began twisting them. I’m not enitrely sure what happened next but I saw a mad dash to a cloth where he instantly extinguished the burning sticks.

Everything didn’t seem to go plan and the routine was cut short and instantly finished. The confused crowd looked on and the performers glossed over it and professional carried on a non-fire related display. Bizarrly it was only once the fire was extinguished did it rain for maybe one minute!



The parade then began moving again and past Cardiff Castle to join the Cardiff Big Weekend located outside Cardiff City Hall. The brollies did come out for about a minute on the day – but otherwise a really enjoyable day was had by all.

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