Grenada Spicemas Videos
Spicemas keeps the old mas alive: Jab Jab, oil, and soca through the streets of St. George's.
Spicemas is Grenada's carnival, held in August, and it is best known for J'ouvert Monday, when Jab Jab devils covered in used oil take the streets before daybreak with chains, horns and pure noise. Traditional characters like Shortknee and Vekou still come out alongside the modern costumed bands, and Monday Night Mas and Parade of the Bands close the festival. Grenada footage on MasLife World TV lands here.
Grenada · Grenada
Grenada Carnival information
Verified public information about this carnival, organised by MasLife World TV. Last verified September 5, 2026.
What Grenada Carnival is
Spicemas is Grenada's national carnival, held in August and organised by the Spicemas Corporation, a statutory body created by an act of parliament to run the festival and its official events. The season builds through calypso and soca competitions, panorama, pageants and a heavy run of fetes, then peaks over two days in St George's. Carnival Monday begins before dawn with J'ouvert, and this is what Grenada is best known for: Jab Jab, the traditional devil mas, in which masqueraders blackened with used motor oil, molasses, tar or paint take the streets in horns and chains as the sun comes up. Monday continues with Monday Night Mas, lit up with light-up costumes, and Carnival Tuesday brings the Parade of the Bands, the pretty mas costumed parade. Because Grenada's J'ouvert is unusually distinctive, Spicemas has become one of the strongest destinations on the summer carnival circuit. For anyone searching "Spicemas dates", "Grenada Carnival", "Jab Jab" or "Grenada J'ouvert", this is that festival.
Source: spicemasgrenada.comWhen it happens
Spicemas is an August festival, not a pre-Lenten one. The season builds through late July and early August, and peaks with J'ouvert and Monday Night Mas on Carnival Monday and the Parade of the Bands on Carnival Tuesday. In 2026 those two days fell on 10 and 11 August, in a festival running 1 to 11 August. The next date has not been confirmed yet.
Source: spicemasgrenada.comParade
The Parade of the Bands closes Spicemas on Carnival Tuesday, with costumed bands crossing St George's in sections behind music trucks. The Monday night before it carries Monday Night Mas, a distinct parade in illuminated costume. The Spicemas Corporation publishes band registration rules, judging arrangements and each season's official programme.
Source: spicemasgrenada.comJ'ouvert / Jouvay
Grenada's J'ouvert takes place in the early hours of Carnival Monday, immediately after the Dimanche Gras show, and is dominated by the traditional Jab Jab or devil mas: masqueraders blackened with grease, oil, tar, molasses or paint, wearing horned helmets and chains, parading through the town before daylight. The Spicemas Corporation describes and stages the J'ouvert celebrations as part of the official festival.
Source: spicemasgrenada.comFêtes and festival week
The Spicemas season carries calypso and soca monarch competitions, panorama, pageants, traditional mas showcases and a run of promoter fetes and boat rides through late July and early August, with the official shows staged by the Spicemas Corporation and listed in its programme.
Source: spicemasgrenada.comCulture and history
Grenada's carnival has roots in the pre-Lenten festivals of the French and Catholic colonial period, and its traditional characters — Jab Jab, Shortknee, Vekou and Wild Indians — come from that older masquerade tradition rather than from modern pretty mas. The national festival was moved to August after independence, tying it to the anniversary of emancipation and to the island's summer season, and Jab Jab in particular has grown rather than faded: what began as a fearsome pre-dawn masquerade is now the image most associated with Spicemas worldwide. The Spicemas Corporation exists by statute to preserve and organise this, which is why the festival keeps a strong traditional core alongside its soca and pretty mas.
Source: spicemasgrenada.comGetting there
St George's is the centre of the festival, reached through Maurice Bishop International Airport (GND). Grenada's J'ouvert is famously messy — oil, paint and grease — so old clothes are standard and many masqueraders bring dedicated J'ouvert gear. August is peak season for the island, so flights, rooms and band sections fill early.
MasLife coverage
MasLife has not filmed Grenada yet — the information above comes from verified public sources. If you filmed it, submit your video and it can be the first.
Questions
- Where is Grenada Carnival held?
- Grenada Spicemas takes place in Grenada, Grenada.
- How do I get my own Grenada 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.
