Top Caribbean Christmas and New Years Destinations and Events

Trinidad & Tobago is one of the Caribbean's most diverse islands -- it's one of the few places in the region, for example, that has a sizable Muslim population. Still, Christianity is the dominant faith, and the annual Parang Festival celebrates the holiday season through song. At Christmas concerts and parties across the two-island nation -- but especially the eastern Trinidad towns of Paramin and Arima -- costumed bands perform traditional folk songs in Spanish Creole, accompanied by instruments such as mandolin, cuatro, and box bass. The island of Carriacou in Grenada also has a well-known parang festival during the Christmas season -- a lively celebration of one of the Caribbean's oldest indigenous art forms.

Most Carnival celebrations focus on Easter, but the St. Kitts National Carnival kicks off the day after Christmas -- known as Boxing Day in many parts of the world -- with a traditional J'ouvert party and runs through New Year's Day. The Kittsian carnival celebrates local folklore and traditions through song, dance, drama and poetry, and like other Caribbean carnivals there are street parties, performances, and musical competitions.

The BVI is the New Year's Eve capital of the Caribbean. This famous boating destination marks the new year with impromptu New Year's "boat-hopping" parties and stops at the many beach bars that dot the islands, such as the Bitter End Yacht Club. Various restaurants and bars hold "Old Year's" celebrations on New Years Eve, with partying till dawn a part of the tradition. The original and most famous is held at Foxy's Tamarind Bar & Grille on Jost Van Dyke -- a 48-hour-long party with live music, dancing, dining and imbibing. The Trellis Bay New Year's Eve Festival starts at noon on New Year's Eve and features fireworks, reggae, and boat-hopping in a family friendly atmosphere.

The islands of the Netherlands Antilles have a unique Christmas celebration that comes straight from Holland, with visits from Sinterklaas and his mysterious minions, the Zwarte Piet (Black Petes). In Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, and Saba, children receive their holiday gifts not only on Christmas morning but also on Dec. 6, the birthday of St. Nicholas. In Curacao, for example, Sinterklass, the equivalent of Santa Claus only taller and thinner, arrives by boat in Willemstad in mid-November to give candy to children, aided by his Black Pete helpers with their black-painted faces and elaborate costumes. Island children welcome Sinterklaas with carrots for his white horse and shoes in which to place gifts.

The annual, month-long Crucian Christmas Festival on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands begins the first Saturday in December and ends the first Saturday of the New Year; like traditional Caribbean carnivals, it features J'ouvert parties, the crowning of a Queen and King, calypso contests, parades, and a special festival village. In mid-December, folks gather along the Christensted boardwalk to enjoy the annual St. Croix Boat Parade, an evening procession of watercraft of all shapes and sizes ablaze with Christmas lights and accompanied by music and fireworks.

Montserrat's culture is a mix of Irish and African traditions, and the latter take precedent during the annual celebration known as Festival, which runs from mid-December to early January. Highlights of the island's annual carnival celebration include a Soca Monarch competition, the "Night of Pan" party, the crowning of a pageant queen, calypso contest, and a street party and parade on Jan. 1.