Category: Trinidad & Tobago Festival Calendar
Phagwa or Holi
Each March in Trinidad & Tobago, the Hindu community recognises the beginning of the Indian spring and the Hindu New Year in a joyful explosion of colour, enjoyed by Hindus and non-Hindus alike
Divali: the festival of lights
Divali is one of the most beautiful, unifying, and anticipated holidays of the year, celebrated by the Hindu faithful — and the nation as a whole
The Maritime Ortoire River Race
Paddlers delight Kayakers head to the southeast coast of Trinidad on Saturday 20 October to paddle in the ninth annual Maritime Ortoire River Race. Paddlers have been training in Chaguaramas over the past weeks, and there will be hot competition among paddlers to improve their standings. When & where The races start at 9am from …
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 is formally celebrated by a parades of the various protective services at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain and in Scarborough, …
Emancipation Day
Celebrated on 1 August to commemorate the end of slavery in the British colonies (1838), Emancipation Day — a public holiday — is 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, including …
Eid-ul-Fitr
Eid-ul-Fitr, often shortened locally to just “Eid” (and sometimes spelt Eid al-Fitr internationally), marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan — the ninth month of the Muslim year, according to the sighting of the new, or crescent, moon. On the day Eid is declared, observances customarily begins before sunrise, with prayer and the …
Indian Arrival Day
This national public holiday (30 May) commemorates the arrival of the first indentured labourers from India on the Fatel Rozack in 1845, following the Emancipation of African slaves in 1838. Waves of indentured immigrants arrived at Nelson Island, off the coast of Chaguaramas, before being sent to various estates where the living conditions were often …
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 (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 …
Easter Goat and Crab Racing in Buccoo and Mt. Pleasant
Buccoo Goat & Crab Racing Festival, and 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 Buccoo in droves for the …
The Miracle Mother — La Divina Pastora, Siparee/Supari Mai, the Black Madonna
In what was once a Capuchin pilgrimage church of the same name in Siparia — a town settled by the first Spanish colonists — stands a dark-skinned statue of the Virgin Mary as La Divina Pastora (the Divine Shepherdess). But this is not her only name, and Catholics are not the only ones who celebrate her. …