Discover Trinidad & Tobago 2016 — 25th Anniversary Edition

Indian Arrival Day
(public holiday))
This national public holiday (30 May) commemorates
the arrival of the first indentured
labourers from India on the ship Fatel
Razack in 1845. More than 140,000 Indians
were recruited over the next 70 years to
work Trinidad’s plantations after Emancipation
(1838). Communities re-enact the arrival
of this first group on beaches around
the country, and outstanding members of
Trinidad’s Indian community are rewarded
for their contributions. The Divali Nagar site
just outside Chaguanas hosts many of the
key celebrations.
Emancipation Day
(public holiday))
Celebrated on 1 August to commemorate
the end of slavery in the British colonies
(1838), this public holiday features street
processions, religious services, cultural
shows, films and lectures, exhibitions of African
art, a trade exposition, performances
(featuring local and international acts), and
countless events and activities nationwide.
The Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation
Village in Port of Spain
is the centre of the activities.
Santa Rosa Festival and
First People’s Heritage Week
Celebrated in August, the month-long syncretic
First Peoples/Catholic Santa Rosa
Festival commemorates the death of Santa
Rosa de Lima, the Roman Catholic patron
saint of the New World. It culminates on the
Sunday following her feast day (23 August),
when her statue is borne through the streets
of Arima in a procession by members of the
Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, led by
the Carib Queen, and Roman Catholics. Other
observances include sharing traditional
Amerindian foods, cultural and spiritual rituals
and commemorations, as well as church
services. In mid-October, the Community
celebrates First Peoples Heritage Week, including
academic conferences, ritual smoke
and water ceremonies, street processions,
and other recognition and celebration of the
island’s First Peoples heritage. santarosafirstpeoples.org
Previous page: a child celebrates
Phagwa. Photo by Chris Anderson
This page: A dancer at the Oshun
River Festival. Photo by Edison
Boodoosingh
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