Jamaica Carnival, also referred to as Bacchanal Jamaica, (also the names of Jamaica's longstanding bands),^[2] is an annual Caribbean Carnival event held mainly in Kingston, Jamaica, a week after Easter (usually during March or April).^[1] The festival is marked by week-long celebrations, fetes and entertainment events, which are a prelude to the official Mas or Road March finale on Carnival Sunday.^[1][3] The Road March is known for its parades of local and international revellers in vibrant costumes, bands, carnival trucks, live performances, dancing and other festivities.^[1][3] Other road marches and carnival events take place in Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril.^[2] The event is traditionally associated with calypso music and soca music,^[1] however it has since evolved into a unique fusion of dancehall, reggae and soca revelry.

The origin of Caribbean carnivals can be traced back to French and Spanish colonialists, who brought the Italian Catholic tradition of Shrovetide celebrations to the Americas.^[1][4] In particular, by the late 18th century, French settlers brought carnival to Caribbean islands such as Haiti, Martinique, St Lucia, Trinidad et al., as a pre-Lenten Catholic celebration, involving masquerades and balls.^[3][4][5] Over time, slaves adapted elements of their cultures and indigenous cultures into these European celebrations, which became a part of their tradition and evolved with dancing, costumes, songs and particular styles of music.^[3]

Jamaica's history of Spanish and British colonialism, contributed colonial era, religious and post-emancipation celebrations, from which some of Jamaica's oldest parades, music and dance forms emerged.^[6][7][8] These include quadrille and jonkunnu, a Christmastime festival— both of which also entail masquerades, characters, costumes, music and dancing that depict fusions and adaptations of elements from European and African cultures.^[6][8] Other local Creole folk traditions including mento (sometimes called mento calypso or Jamaican calypso), which bears similarities to other Greater Antillean genres that also use the rumba box, were often featured at cultural celebrations and festivals.^[8][9]

With the opening of the University of the West Indies, Mona, in the late 1940s, carnival culture from the Eastern Caribbean spread to Jamaica.^[5] This was due to the migration of Eastern Caribbean students, who recreated their celebrations on the university's campus— a tradition that became popular in the mid-1950s, which continues on the campus to date.^[5]

• Carnival
• Mento
• Jonkunnu
• Byron Lee and the Dragonaires
• Bacchanalia
• Labor Day Carnival
• Notting Hill Carnival
• Caribana
• Brazilian Carnival
• List of Caribbean carnivals around the world

• Bacchanal Jamaica
• Visit Jamaica (Jamaica Tourist Board)- Carnival Calendar
• Sandals- Jamaica Carnival Experience