Holy Name Convent’s Parade of the Bands 2026
“In diversity, there is beauty and strength.” – Maya Angelou
Traditions often embody the defining culture and values of a school community. Holy Name Convent’s annual Carnival celebration is a tradition that truly embraces the beauty of shared identity. This year’s celebration, held on Thursday 12th February, beautifully portrayed the theme “Melodies of the Caribbean”. In highlighting the diversity of the Caribbean, each house spent weeks preparing to showcase a vibrant display of colour, enriching stories and cultural heritage in the Parade of the Bands competition.
First in the competition was St. Dominic’s house, representing Jamaica, Haiti, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. From the colourful wings of Jamaica’s yellow-billed amazon to the adornments of Haiti’s Mami Wata, this house incorporated several aspects of the cultures of these countries. St. Dominic’s performance ended with a dance, as performers in blue moved together, representing the Caribbean Sea’s role in binding our cultures into a shared identity.
St. Catherine’s house then immersed the audience in a fairytale, where the natural elements throughout the Caribbean were disrupted and thrown into chaos after Mother Nature’s necklace had been stolen. The performers brought this story to life, depicting the storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that wreaked havoc on the nations of the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and St. Kitts. Glittering tulle of grey, green, blue and brown danced across the courtyard as the elements finally danced in harmony, ultimately creating a captivating story personifying the Caribbean’s geography.
Up next came St. Albert’s in their vibrant and creative costumes representing the countries Bahamas, Dominica and Barbados. Using the different countries’ national aspects, St. Albert’s portrayed a beautiful display of the Bahamas’ clear waters and beautiful creatures, Dominica’s national birds and Barbados’ national flower, ‘The Pride of Barbados’. Their presentation followed a choreographed dance, their decorated queen on stilts and even a playing of the soca song ‘Take Me Home’ by Freetown Collective on live pan by one of the house’s students. This, in the end, led the house to its victory as this year’s Carnival Parade of the Bands winner.
Last came St. Roses, who definitely used their countries of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda to their advantage. Using their given countries, this house gave a great showing of each country’s National characteristics and their artistic design using glittery and colourful fabrics to embody them. The house even had a live rendition of the Jab Jab, a famous folklore character in Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, which caught the attention of the audience greatly.
For all houses, Trinidad and Tobago was mandatory, and the representation of our culture was beautiful. From St. Dominics’ back pieces of our National Instrument, The Steelpan, St. Albert’s rendition of Limbo and Stick-fighting, to St. Rose’s portrayal of the Jab Jab, our culture was well shown during each presentation.
The annual Carnival Parade of the Bands allows students to express themselves creatively, work together, bond as a house, and participate in dancing and jumping up as a school. Carnival in Holy Name is a time for students to celebrate their culture through dance, working in mas camps and coming together as one. Each year, we see a more exciting and energetic showing from each house, where each student who participates genuinely comes out of this experience happily and closer to their culture.
Written by: Kyara Linton and Tiana Bailey
Photos: HNC Photography Club