Moko Jumbies, 2015, Permanent collection of the British Museum, London

The male and female Moko Jumbie carnival figures on stilts dressed in striking black and gold costumes are inspired by African and Caribbean masquerade.  These figures emerged as a key feature of carnival in Trinidad in the early 1900s. Oral traditions describe the Moko Jumbie as a guardian of villages who could foresee danger and protect inhabitants from evil forces. They were said to have waded across the Atlantic to protect the people of the Caribbean.