TERRENCE HONORÉ
IF THERE is one behaviour that seems to define the Trini culture, it's the prevalence of wining in our festive times. That's the rhythmic gyration of hips, mostly seen during the Carnival season, a time of much fete and fun when the revelry is high and morality is low.
The social activity that has evolved over the years can best be described as the wining phenomenon. It is an observable event that draws much attention. It is characterised as an inexplicable urge by participants to wine, grind, rub and cavort in expressions of pelvic manipulation that leave little to the imagination.
In fact, nothing happens in Carnival without the wine - not the beverage, but the movement of bodies to the pulsating beat of the music, served in gracious measure to the dancers' delight. Some even contend that you can't enjoy the Carnival without a little wine - with the intoxicating version in hand. People get drunk in revelry and the wining action flows from that, while others just simply wine.
Behind the artistry of the masmen, or the creative lyrical compositions of the calypsonians and soca singers, the performances, and the various genres and styles of dance, there is the wining. It is arguably the main highlight of the two-day event. And women love it. Men love to look at it. People warm up to the festivity with wining on their mind.
It is visibly clear that the wining action showcases the season. To some, this makes it arguably the best in the world. Brazil's carnival has seductive "walk and wine" with a lot of samba, but in TT it's the raw version, with an African influence that features movements of the hip and buttocks that bring each Carnival dance to its climax.
The contortions seem like a mix of the Arabian dance, the Spanish sway, with a movement the locals call a "jook," the thrusting of one's hips forward sharply into the rear of another as defined by Wiktionary, an appendix of Trinidadian English. It appears as if every part of their lower anatomy is trying to break free.
The real spirit of the Carnival season is reflected in the movements of the masqueraders as they parade across the stage or along the streets. Wining is the real attraction for the many onlookers, aficionados, and the hordes of photographers who follow the rhythmic movements of women, wearing as little as possible and wining as much as they could in public view.
The mass of movements by masqueraders sometimes seems closer to a large orgy than an artistic festival, with excited participants trying to vigorously wine on each other. It's a free and uninhibited act of erotic expression. For many years the consequence of the gratification has resulted in an increased number of babies being born nine months after the grand affair.
And as the children grow, they are taught how to wine. Some have graduated from the school of "wineology." They go through the stages, practising at the kiddies carnival with its more circumspect movements and then prancing to the full-blown bacchanal that is Carnival.
Children as youn
