TRINADAD
Trinidad a small island located in the carribean, also known as the “West Indies”, was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Columbus named the island of Trinadad after the Holy Trinity, and was once a British possession.
Trinadad is a multi-cultural island with an ancestoral mixture of races mostly from India, Africa, and China. The uniqueness of the mult-cultural/multi-racial decents pulled together for generations and now the Trini’s, short for Trinadadians are a proud people of their heritage.
As the French settlers began to arrive in 1785 so did celebrations of festivities that were from the Native homelands of India, Africa, and China. Today we know it as “Carnival” the annual Celebration Of Life. Carnival is very much similar to the “Mardi Gra” celebration in New Orleans.
Carnival celebrations are ongoing for a 5 day period annually between January and February each year. During Carnival the Trini’s celebrate with music and dance. “MA’S” the parade of bands is is an elaborate event with music from steel drum bands, Soca, Rapso, and Calypso band music too. The artistry of the handwork and idea for the costumes are out of this world. Made from shells, feathers, and all kinds of materials these costumes must be made to endure long hours of dancing and movement so not to fall apart during the festivities. Carnival is such an elaborate affair that even some of the businesses are shut down and participate in the festivities as well.
Trinadad has also been involved with the Summer Olympics, debuting in 1948 and has successfully competed since with 14 appearances. The last appearance was in Athens, Greece in 2004 competeing in mostly swimming and athletics.
Native foods are a variety of the Indian, african, and chinese cuisine. Roti-a flat very thin bread comparable to a flour totrtilla. Curry-a spice from India prepared with meats of chicken, beef, goat, and potatoes. Callaloo-a vegetable dish made with spinach greens, crab meat, spices and coconut milk. The all time favorite of Cook-up rice(meaning to throw all together) is a wonderful blend of chicken meat, broth, black-eyed peas, chick peas(garbanzo beans), shallots, tomatoes, coconut milk, and rice. A full meal deal.
Visit the West Indies at Carnival time you will be glad you did.
