While its theme is Haiti, tra­di­tion­al Guyanese mas­quer­ade char­ac­ters like the Long La­dy and a mas sim­i­lar to T&T's ver­sion of John Ca­noe were ex­hib­it­ed at the crack of dawn. Gib­bons said: "The fo­cus is on tra­di­tion­al mas, in­clud­ing Guyanese In­di­an mas and a type of John Ca­noe mas...It is re­al­ly made from rice bags." Point­ing to the slen­der sil­hou­ettes of the Guyanese woman, he said: "They are all char­ac­ters bird, bull and the long la­dy. "These tra­di­tion­al char­ac­ters each have their own dance and role in the Guyanese mas­quer­ade...Every year we try to fea­ture them in the Old Yard (Viey La Cou)," Gib­bons said. "The re-en­act­ment of the Rara Band al­so forms part of our guest per­for­mance at the Old Yard."

For 2010, they had show­cased the New Or­leans black In­di­ans for tra­di­tion­al mas con­nois­seurs. Tall like a gi­raffe, the Guyanese In­di­an woman mas looms over the ba­nana-shaped John Ca­noe type mas docked at the base of a house boast­ing jalousies and wood­en front doors. Sus­pend­ed on bam­boo stilts, her breasts thrust for­ward like tor­pe­does. The stitch­ing is hap­haz­ard­ly done. A shock of black hair falls over her plain Jane face.

Hait­ian Rara Band

Gib­bons said the Rara Band dis­plays sim­i­lar­i­ties to ca­lyp­so and forges strong links with voodoo. "It is al­so like tra­di­tion­al mas­quer­ade, but it is strong­ly linked to the Hait­ian re­li­gion (voodoo)," he said. "It is a rov­ing band of mu­si­cians and dancers who sing and pa­rade through­out the Lenten pe­ri­od. "They come out right af­ter Car­ni­val and they cul­mi­nate on the East­er week­end. "That is the form in which in their songs are heav­i­ly cod­ed like ca­lyp­so-lot of dou­ble en­ten­dre...sex­u­al over­tones and it comes out in the Rara songs. Yet, it is a spir­i­tu­al en­sem­ble."