[youtube=http://youtu.be/T8gFXj7VE5Q]

Areito is not strictly speaking a carnival — but it has all the elements of a carnival: dancing, drumming, masks, and poetry. Areito was a performance style practiced by the Arawaks, native inhabitants of the Caribbean when Columbus arrived. In Fall 2013, young artists from Miami Bridge explored the traditions of Arawaks, reciting and writing poems, making masks, and dancing in a circle, all leading up to an areito performance and party in late November.