Trinidad's carnival dates back to the 18th century, and the influx of French Catholic planters from the French Antilles – both white and free coloured – their slaves, and free blacks in the 1780s. The white and free coloured both staged elaborate masquerade balls at Christmas and as a “farewell to the flesh” before the Catholic Lenten season, with each group mimicking the other in their masking and entertainment. After the emancipation of slaves in 1838, it became a symbol of freedom and defiance. This masking and mimicry merged over time with the calinda – or stickfighting accompanied by chanting and drumming – and rituals of carnival to become a jamette – or underclass – masquerade. The festival was transformed when the island's slaves were freed in 1834 as a consequence of the passage of the "Abolition Act" by the British Parliament in 1833.