Heritage In case you were thinking that the sleepy sister isle <strong>of</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong> can’t match <strong>Trinidad</strong> for Carnival-like excitement, there are four annual <strong>Tobago</strong> events that will change your mind. Whereas Trini festivals tend toward the modern <strong>and</strong> ultrasophisticated, <strong>Tobago</strong>nians celebrate differently, with simpler, more pastoral pleasures that don’t necessarily require you to dress up to enjoy. Goat <strong>and</strong> Crab Races At Easter you can catch the hugely popular Goat <strong>and</strong> Crab Races, held in the Buccoo <strong>and</strong> Mt. Pleasant villages. Yes, you read right—goat <strong>and</strong> crab racing. Most are skeptical at first, but these unique sports can become very addictive. You may find yourself cheering your favourite ruminant or crustacean as it races along the grasscovered track. Like horse racing, there are goat owners, goat jockeys, crab owners <strong>and</strong> crab jockeys. Thankfully, unlike horse racing, the jockeys don’t ride the goats <strong>and</strong> crabs: they run alongside them. Visitors have been known to jump in with both feet <strong>and</strong> help the jockeys urge their chosen racing crabs to victory. Most times there are no set lanes to run in, so goats, crabs <strong>and</strong> jockeys jostle each other to keep their lead. May the best animal win! <strong>Tobago</strong> Heritage Festival The <strong>Tobago</strong> Heritage Festival is easily the biggest <strong>and</strong> most feted <strong>of</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong>’s events. The annual two-week eruption <strong>of</strong> cultural <strong>and</strong> historical presentations is usually held from July to early August. ‘Heritage’ as many locals call it, celebrates the traditional customs <strong>of</strong> a largely African-influenced <strong>Tobago</strong>, in the dances, music, religion <strong>and</strong> rituals <strong>and</strong> food that <strong>Tobago</strong>nians claim as their birthright. These long-held practices are so important that the <strong>Tobago</strong> House <strong>of</strong> Assembly’s Division <strong>of</strong> Community Development, Culture <strong>and</strong> Gender Affairs along with the Heritage Committee, made up <strong>of</strong> representatives from each village, held a symposium after the 2009 Heritage Festival to evaluate the event <strong>and</strong> find new ways to keep next year’s festival fresh while retaining its important historical value. The festival travels throughout the isl<strong>and</strong>, touching several villages with its celebratory spirit, including Belle Garden, Roxborough, Charlotteville <strong>and</strong> Les Coteaux. Each village boasts a signature event. For example, the Ole Time Wedding usually takes place in the village <strong>of</strong> Moriah. The wedding re-enactment is a cultural microcosm <strong>of</strong> an earlier time where the dress, attitudes <strong>and</strong> morals <strong>of</strong> the Europeans were actively blended into the day-to-day life <strong>of</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong>nians. Values like purity <strong>and</strong> fidelity, as well as practices to promote the fertility <strong>of</strong> both bride <strong>and</strong> groom play an important part in the day’s rituals. Women wear floor-length colourful gowns, <strong>and</strong> the men are outfitted in formal scissor-tailed suits, reminiscent <strong>of</strong> Engl<strong>and</strong>’s Regency period. The bride (who wears white) <strong>and</strong> the groom, lead a procession to the reception site, doing an elaborate heel-<strong>and</strong>-toe walk ritual. There, guests are treated to a proper feast <strong>and</strong> dance the jig <strong>and</strong> reel long into the night. The Sea Festival in Black Rock, Wake <strong>and</strong> Bongo in Whim <strong>and</strong> Charlotteville, Roxborough’s Ms. Heritage Personality, the Junior Heritage Festival <strong>and</strong> the ongoing Food Fair are other festival hotspots to hit. The Sea Festival commemorates the slaves’ emancipation <strong>and</strong> their subsequent initiatives to find another source <strong>of</strong> income from fishing. It also celebrates the methods by which the former slaves developed strong community spirit in order to survive. During the festival, participants recreate the time when entire fishing villages would turn out to “knit” (mend) or “shoot” (throw out) the seine or net. Persons learn the old ways preserving fish, <strong>and</strong> are taught communal morals when everyone gets some <strong>of</strong> the fish that’s caught. Ms. Heritage Personality is not a beauty competition but rather a contest to see which participant can most aptly demonstrate aspects <strong>of</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong>’s traditional customs. Typically, teenaged or young adult contestants are given a theme upon which they build a presentation, complete with props <strong>and</strong> costumes. The Wake <strong>and</strong> Bongo honours the mystical side <strong>of</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong>nian culture, filled with rituals that contain both Christian <strong>and</strong> African religious elements. It is one <strong>of</strong> the rituals that it shares with <strong>Trinidad</strong>, although each isl<strong>and</strong> celebrates it differently. In <strong>Tobago</strong>, a wake is a night ceremony held when someone has died. Relatives <strong>and</strong> friends <strong>of</strong> the deceased stay “awake” all night to honour the dead. Christian hymns are sung <strong>and</strong> feasting (a significant African-derived custom) is an important element <strong>of</strong> the event. The bongo comes after the deceased is buried. It leans more heavily on the African beliefs. For example, participants believe that life <strong>and</strong> death are very closely knitted <strong>and</strong> the bong is a way to ease the deceased’s rite <strong>of</strong> passage to the other side. It is also intended to liven up the ‘dead’ house by encouraging grieving relatives to enjoy life. Vulgar songs <strong>and</strong> dances intended cause laughter <strong>and</strong> to stimulate sexual arousal characterise the bongo—the purpose is to usher in new life by exciting participants to intercourse, which should lead to birth. <strong>Tobago</strong> Fest is a mid-September, mini- Carnival masquerade, where you can enjoy many elements <strong>of</strong> what you may have missed in <strong>Trinidad</strong> earlier in the year. B<strong>and</strong>s from both isl<strong>and</strong>s crowd the streets for “night mas,” calypso shows <strong>and</strong> the sound <strong>of</strong> sweet steel pan. <strong>Tobago</strong> has its own version <strong>of</strong> “ole mas” (traditional mas characters) including speech b<strong>and</strong>s, who w<strong>and</strong>er from house to house with gossip, songs <strong>and</strong> jokes, <strong>of</strong>ten done in embellished European accents. The <strong>Tobago</strong> Blue Food Festival The <strong>Tobago</strong> Blue Food Festival is another important <strong>Tobago</strong> attraction if you’re hankering for more local flavour to tickle your taste buds. It’s held around October every year. For <strong>Tobago</strong>nians <strong>and</strong> Trinis, “blue food” can mean any starchy, edible root crop used in local cuisine— cassava, yam <strong>and</strong> plantain (not a root) included. But the term was specifically derived from use <strong>of</strong> the tuber <strong>of</strong> the taro plant, or dasheen as it’s locally called. When boiled, this good-for-you source <strong>of</strong> complex carbohydrates develops a blue colour depending on the variety; hence the idiom “blue food.” The Blue Food Festival is an opportunity for local chefs <strong>and</strong> cooks to earn bragging rights on their innovative preparation <strong>of</strong> the dasheen with stewed meats, in desserts or by itself. Prizes are awarded to most original dish, most innovative dish <strong>and</strong> to the participant with the most dishes, among other categories. The event is traditionally held at the Bloody Bay Recreational Grounds <strong>and</strong> hosted by the village councils <strong>of</strong> L’anse Fourmi, Bloody Bay <strong>and</strong> Parlatuvier along with the Department <strong>of</strong> Tourism in the <strong>Tobago</strong> House <strong>of</strong> Assembly. In 2009, organisers revamped the layout <strong>of</strong> the festival so that the rainforest provided the perfect theatrical backdrop to the day’s open-air activities, which included musical performances from Black Stalin <strong>and</strong> Shurwayne Winchester. And when it came to food, the <strong>Tobago</strong> Hospitality <strong>and</strong> Tourism <strong>Ins</strong>titute wowed attendees with dasheen ice cream, served in an empty coconut shell <strong>and</strong> delicious dasheen coladas. Who knows what blue food treats await in 2010 156 The <strong>Ins</strong> & <strong>Outs</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Trinidad</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tobago</strong>
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