courtesy of: The Morning News
by Rosalie Klein
Arubans ended their 2012 Carnaval festivities with the ritual Burning of Rey Momo at the stroke of midnight this past Tuesday, auguring Ash Wednesday and the somber, contemplative period of Lent. According to folklore, Rey Momo is a pagan figure, the son of nightmares and the dark of night. He presides over the feast of lunatics, and is the master of cruel satire, sarcasm, and merciless irony. He is also the protector of those who give in to a life of excesses and festivities. In today’s terms, Rey Momo is the king of party animals, and Aruba’s Carnaval is the ultimate party!
TBS Brass Band and D’Licious Band provided the fuel for one final night of revels, while this year’s musical royalty, Tumba King Chendell Beaumont, Calypso King Valentino King, and Roadmarch King Derwin Kemp, with the Youth X-treme Band, delivered a full evening of entertainment in anticipation of the culmination of seven weeks of unbridled bacchanalia.
Tecla Kelly-Hernandez, President of the Stichting Arubaanse Carnaval, or SAC, the governing body of all the related events, delivered the “Proclamation of Rey Momo.” She thanked the many organizations who made this year’s Carnaval again a success, including support services such as the Red Cross, IMSAN, island police force, SERLIMAR, as well as all the queens, kings, princes and panchos whose sparkling performances so enhanced the enjoy- ment of Carnaval 58.
Finally, at 12:01 AM, Rey Momo burst into flame, providing an impressive conflagration that ended with a final spurt of fireworks, and the spirit of Carnaval 58 was officially laid to rest, only to rise again, like a phoenix, from the ashes, in November as Carnaval 59, to once more hold sway over the Aruba.
