The tradition of ‘jab jabs’ - Carnival participants who daub themselves in colour and dance fiercely to a beat - manifests in several iterations, one being Jab Molassie. Taken from the French patois ‘diable mélasse’ or ‘molasses devil’, Jab Molassie is thought to be the earliest known and therefore the original Devil Mas character. Dressed in chains and donning a pitchfork, wire tail and horns, the original Jab Molassie arose when liberated slaves daubed themselves in molasses from sugar plantations, using the molasses as an accessible, cheap costume for playing Mas. The Jab Molassie costume of today has broadened into a range of colours to include white, blue, red, yellow and green. Many Jab Molassies will also carry and blow whistles and throw their bodies around dramatically in a heightened form of play, designed to strike fear into Carnival watchers, who might then ‘pay the devil’ so that he will pass them by.

Crochet cotton and lace

180 x 120 cm