Barbados Crop Over festival: ‘It’s 4am. Suddenly, bottles of paint are whipped around in circles above the crowd, like liquid Catherine Wheels’

It’s 4am. A large flatbed truck carrying an enormous sound system slowly trundles around a vast rural race circuit, while hundreds of dancing revellers wearing white t-shirts follow in the dark to the DJ’s choppy, earth-shuddering beats. A busy drinks truck behind the crowd rolls along at the same meandering pace, with bar staff frantically filling up punter’s plastic flasks with generous helpings of rum punch and various other concoctions.