Category: Festivals — Tobago

Trinidad & Tobago celebrations & festivals in 2020

Few things speak more eloquently to Trinidad and Tobago’s reputation as a place where people like to party, and as a multi-cultural melange, than the quantity and variety of festivals on the national calendar.

A Tobago festivals calendar for 2020

In alphabetical order, here are some of Tobago‘s most treasured festivals, from Harvests and Heritage Festival to Jazz Experience and Great Fete

The Heritage Festival's Ole Time Wedding procession in Moriah. Photo courtesy THA

Jared Prima on Tobago’s culture & festivals | Q&A

Jared Prima is a Tobagonian actor, director, writer, and singer. We talked to him about Tobago‘s culture, food, festivals, and entertainment.

Fireworks. Photo by Kazim Daniel

Independence Day

Trinidad & Tobago Independence Day in a nutshell Independence Day — a public holiday — marks the occasion on 31 August, 1962 when Trinidad & Tobago’s became independent from Great Britain. The day usually begins with a parade of the various protective services at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain and in Scarborough,

The flambeaux street procession is a hallmark of Emancipation celebrations. Photo by Maria Nunes

Emancipation Day

Celebrated on 1 August to commemorate the end of slavery in the British colonies (1838), Emancipation Day — a public holiday — is usually marked with street processions (a morning procession, including towering moko jumbies, and a flambeaux-lit Canboulay procession in the evening); religious and spiritual observances; cultural shows and performances (dance, music, and theatre,

Erykah Badu performs at the Tobago Jazz Experience. Photo courtesy the THA

The Tobago Jazz Experience

Each April there is jazz! Jazz on the beach, jazz in bars and lounges, jazz in the park, jazz everywhere! For four years, the Plymouth International Jazz Festival headlined pop, R&B, hip-hop, soca, and jazz stars from around the world. The Tobago Jazz Experience replaced the Plymouth Jazz Festival in 2009, featuring some of the

Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day is celebrated in March. Photo by Chris Anderson

Spiritual (Shouter) Baptist Liberation Day

Celebrated on 30 March, Spiritual (Shouter) Baptist Liberation Day commemorates the abolition of the colonial-era British-instituted Shouters Prohibition Ordinance. In 1917, the Ordinance was enacted and for 34 years this syncretic religion (a mix of Christian and African Orisha elements) was banned, ostensibly, for no greater reason than the loud sounds of their singing and clapping

Goat racing is popular at Great Fete as well as during the Easter long weekend. Photo by Stephen Broadbridge

Easter Goat and Crab Racing in Tobago

Your guide to the Buccoo Goat & Crab Racing Festival, and the Mt Pleasant Goat Race Perhaps the most unique of all Tobagonian traditions is the Goat and Crab Races. At Easter time, only Friday and Monday are official holidays, but Easter Tuesday is not really a day for work in Tobago: people head to