BONSWA tout moun, bonswa tout moun (Hello, good day)! Gather round to learn more about siblings Kemoni and Keiani Newton – two of Trinidad and Tobago's youngest pierrot grenades.
The pierrot grenade is a traditional Carnival character, known for its brightly, multi-coloured garments and its witty wordplay.
The National Carnival Commission's (NCC) website says the character is "the supreme jester in Trinidad Carnival...and delights in displaying his knowledge and ability to spell any word."
The character also uses a whip crafted from a tree branch, almost like a teacher's pointing stick.
[caption id="attachment_1056589" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kemoni Newton, left, Keiani Newton, right, with their mother Keomi Serrette, in Woodford Square. - Faith Ayoung[/caption]
Kemoni, 11, told Newsday Kids he and his four-year-old sister were inspired by their mother, Keomi Serrette, one of TT's pierrot grenades.
The standard-five student of Nelson Street Boys' RC School, Port of Spain, said, "We began after seeing our mom portray the character, and the way she spelt the words on the stage and caused the audience to laugh made us feel to do it too."
Keiani, who attends Children of the Rock Pre-School, chimed in, saying she enjoys spelling words in a fun way.
The pierrot grenade's way of spelling words is unique. For example, let us spell "newspaper," only as the pierrot grenade can. Suppose you are in a media house with three sections – features, news and sports – and you see a blank page on the ground. You ask features if it is theirs: they say no; so too sports. So then you say, "Wait, that is news paper."
Keiani said she can spell words like Japan, Chicago, independence, and her favourite – penmanship.
[caption id="attachment_1056586" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kemoni Newton says he is always confident, even with judges being right in front him. - Faith Ayoung[/caption]
She told Newsday Kids, "Suppose there was a man who use to sell pen. People called him Pen Man. When Pen Man save enough money and buy a ship, when people see the ship, they say, 'Aye, look Pen Man ship!"
Kemoni's favourite word to spell is elementary, and he happily recited it.
"Some time way back when, there was a gigantic silk cotton tree...to most villagers it was known as L tree. L was Aubrey Sampson's son, and from birth, he was a real crybaby. For everything that went wrong, you could find L lamenting under the tree. So the spelling is clear to see...the villagers named it 'L lament tree.'"
The two help their mother make the pierrot grenade costumes, which they said can take up to three days after several months of collecting scraps of cloth.
[caption id="attachment_1056591" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Keiani Newton gets help from her mother Keomi Serrette to get into her pierrot grenade costume. - Faith Ayoung[/caption]
Keiani gave the costumes two thumbs up, while Kemoni said, "The design and the different patters and colours are nice."
Both said they enjoy performing in front of audiences, even thou
