Category: Festivals — Trinidad
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 …
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. …
Our time — Trinidad Carnival in the new millennium
This is the mother of all West Indian style carnivals around the world. The intoxicating mix of high-energy music and street performed by masqueraders, some in costumes 50ft tall, make the massive parade an unforgettable experience of a lifetime.
Endless wuk — a Trinidad Carnival guide
A brief history of Carnival The history of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago can be read as a history of banned things. When the French arrived in the 1780s, they brought a tradition of pre-Lenten celebration, most visibly represented by masquerade balls. The island’s economy and society was supported by slave labour, and those slaves …
Trinidad Carnival: the birth & evolution
Central to understanding much of the Trinidadian psyche is to understand the festival culture of the island. And no festival is greater than the Trinidad Carnival. The dynamism of the festival has sparked its reproduction throughout the rest of the Caribbean island chain, and as far away as Toronto, New York, Miami and Notting Hill. But everyone knows that Trinidad is the “mother of all West Indian carnivals”, which attracts visitors from all over the world, including international celebrities like Halle Berry. Its roots are here
The Trinidad Carnival season
The ritual of Trinidad Carnival involves more than buying a costume and jumping in the streets for two days. Let us initiate you into the customs of Carnival. It’s a season — a lifestyle!