At midnight, having thanked their gods for freedom, slaves took to the streets once more in emancipation celebrations. Shouts of joy rung across the islands of the Caribbean as slaves shook their bodies to the rhythms of their drums. Carnival celebrations was therefore made a religious festival whereby citizens could free the flesh, and revel for, come Ash Wednesday, the Lenten season would commence, and they would have to put away all fleshly desires for forty days and nights. And so it is, Carnival in Dominica came about, to run for about thirty days before Ash Wednesday.