Dominica Carnival Videos
Dominica's Real Mas: sensay costumes, lapo kabwit drums and mas domnik before Lent.
Dominica calls its carnival Mas Domnik, or the Real Mas, and holds it on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It leans hard on tradition: sensay costumes made from rope and cloth, black devil mas, lapo kabwit drumming and bouyon music alongside calypso. This page gathers our Dominica carnival footage.
Dominica · Dominica
When is Dominica Carnival 2027?
Dominica 2027 runs 8–9 February 2027. J'Ouvert opens it before dawn on Monday 8 February 2027, and the main parade follows on Tuesday 9 February 2027.
- Parade days
- 8–9 February 2027
- J'Ouvert
- Monday 8 February 2027
- Season
- 2027
Dominica's Mas Domnik runs on the two days before Ash Wednesday, moving each year with Easter.
Dominica Carnival dates by year
Dates set by the carnival calendar: Carnival Monday and Tuesday are always the two days before Ash Wednesday, so they move with Easter each year. Official schedule
Dominica Carnival information
Verified public information about this carnival, organised by MasLife World TV. Last verified September 5, 2026.
What Dominica Carnival is
Mas Domnik is Dominica's carnival, and it is one of the few in the Caribbean still held in its original pre-Lenten slot — the festival culminates on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, the two days before Ash Wednesday, centred on Roseau. Dominica calls its carnival "the real mas", and the description reflects how it is run: less dominated by large costumed bands than its neighbours, and built instead around street jump-ups, calypso, and traditional masquerade characters including Sensay, with its shredded costume, and Darkie and Bwa Bwa. The music is Dominican — bouyon alongside soca and calypso — and the season carries the Calypso Monarch competition, pageants, and community events across the island before the Monday and Tuesday street jump-ups. The island's festivals body also stages the World Creole Music Festival in late October, a separate three-night event that has become Dominica's best-known music export and part of the reason the Nature Island is described as a festival capital. For anyone searching "Dominica Carnival dates", "Mas Domnik", "Sensay" or "World Creole Music Festival", these are those festivals.
Source: dominicafestivals.comWhen it happens
Dominica 2027 runs 8–9 February 2027. J'Ouvert opens it before dawn on Monday 8 February 2027, and the main parade follows on Tuesday 9 February 2027. Mas Domnik remains a pre-Lenten carnival: it culminates on Carnival Monday and Carnival Tuesday, the two days immediately before Ash Wednesday, so its dates move each year with Easter. The World Creole Music Festival is separate and is held in late October — in 2026 across 23, 24 and 25 October.
Source: dominicafestivals.comParade
Mas Domnik culminates in the street jump-ups of Carnival Monday and Tuesday in Roseau, when bands, trucks and traditional masqueraders take the streets, rather than in a single judged parade of costumed bands as in larger carnivals. Dominica Festivals publishes the confirmed carnival programme and street jump-up days for each season.
Source: dominicafestivals.comJ'ouvert / Jouvay
Dominica's carnival opens in the early hours with J'ouvert street jump-ups before the daytime mas, and the pre-dawn road is where the traditional characters and bouyon trucks are most visible. Because Mas Domnik keeps a strong traditional core, the official Dominica Festivals programme is the reliable source for each season's J'ouvert and jump-up arrangements.
Source: dominicafestivals.comFêtes and festival week
The carnival season runs for weeks before the jump-ups with the Calypso Monarch competition, pageants, cultural shows and community events across the island. Separately, in late October, Dominica stages the World Creole Music Festival, three nights of Creole music from local, regional and international artists — Dominica's biggest music event and a major draw in its own right. Both are published by Dominica Festivals.
Source: dominicafestivals.comCulture and history
Dominica's carnival grew out of the island's French Creole and Catholic heritage, and it remains one of the Caribbean carnivals still tied to the days before Ash Wednesday. Its traditional characters are among the most distinctive in the region: Sensay, covered head to toe in strips of cloth or shredded material with a horned headpiece; Darkie, in fine dress and mask; Bwa Bwa, the stilt walker; and the sailor and stickfighting traditions of earlier eras. The island's music adds to that identity — bouyon, developed in Dominica in the 1980s, drives the carnival road alongside soca and calypso, and Creole music is celebrated again in October at the World Creole Music Festival. Kwéyòl language and dress remain visible through the season.
Source: discoverdominica.comGetting there
Roseau is the centre of carnival, reached through Douglas–Charles Airport (DOM), served mainly by regional flights, with sea connections from neighbouring islands; the new international airport under development is intended to change that. Because carnival falls immediately before Ash Wednesday, its dates move each year with Easter, so travel is normally planned once the festivals body confirms the season's programme.
MasLife coverage
MasLife has not filmed Dominica yet — the information above comes from verified public sources. If you filmed it, submit your video and it can be the first.
Next Dominica Carnival
The season coming up, and the one happening right now.
Dominica Carnival archive
Every past Dominica season we have covered. These pages stay up permanently — the footage does not expire.
Questions
- When is Dominica Carnival 2028?
- Dominica 2028 runs 28–29 February 2028. J'Ouvert opens it before dawn on Monday 28 February 2028, and the main parade follows on Tuesday 29 February 2028.
- When is Dominica Carnival 2027?
- Dominica 2027 runs 8–9 February 2027. J'Ouvert opens it before dawn on Monday 8 February 2027, and the main parade follows on Tuesday 9 February 2027.
- Where is Dominica Carnival held?
- Dominica Carnival takes place in Dominica, Dominica.
- How do I get my own Dominica footage on MasLife World TV?
- Submit it at maslifeworldtv.com/submit. If it is your footage and it is from the road, we publish it with your credit.
