KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

In an ef­fort to recog­nise the con­tri­bu­tions made by the First Peo­ples in T&T, The San­ta Rosa First Peo­ples Com­mu­ni­ty will mark First Peo­ples Her­itage Week from Oc­to­ber 12-19.

The theme for what will be the 24th edi­tion of the cel­e­bra­tion is “Ad­vanc­ing the Cul­tur­al Con­ti­nu­ity of the In­dige­nous First Peo­ples”. 

Chief Ri­car­do Bharath Her­nan­dez said the ini­tia­tive was an ex­cel­lent op­por­tu­ni­ty to ap­pre­ci­ate and recog­nise the con­tri­bu­tions made by T&T’s an­ces­tral peo­ple.

“The aim is to pre­serve, share, show­case and im­mor­talise the cul­ture of the First Peo­ples in Trinidad and To­ba­go, across the Caribbean and North and South Amer­i­ca,” he said.

“The cul­tur­al her­itage of the First Peo­ples is based on a spir­i­tu­al world­view that all an­i­mate and inan­i­mate things on this and all oth­er worlds have a com­mon root and ori­gin. Life is a con­tin­u­ous in­ter­play of mat­ter and spir­it and every­thing has a spir­i­tu­al di­men­sion, which is the fun­da­men­tal as­pect of the ex­is­tence of all crea­tures.”

First Peo­ples del­e­gates from neigh­bour­ing coun­tries such as Guyana, Suri­name, Be­lize, Venezuela, Do­mini­ca, and St Vin­cent and the Grenadines, have been in­vit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in the Her­itage Week ac­tiv­i­ties.

“The plan­et Earth or Moth­er Earth is giv­en to hu­man be­ings to live and oc­cu­py as care­tak­ers with an eter­nal du­ty to pro­tect and nur­ture its sa­cred­ness,” Bharath said.

“Hu­man be­ings are al­lowed to live and pro­duce on Moth­er Earth on­ly through sus­tain­able means. The in­dige­nous world­view pro­hibits hu­man be­ings from en­gag­ing in any­thing which de­stroys Moth­er Earth.” 

One of the ma­jor events will be the ob­ser­vance of the Day of Recog­ni­tion of our In­dige­nous Her­itage. That day will be­gin with a tra­di­tion­al Smoke Cer­e­mo­ny at the Hyari­ma Stat­ue, in Ari­ma.

Bharath said, “Our his­to­ry speaks of Hyari­ma, the War Chief of the Nepuyo Na­tion who, with the help of the Dutch set­tlers in To­ba­go, com­plete­ly burnt the Span­ish Cap­i­tal of St Joseph to the ground, on Oc­to­ber 14th 1637, thus chas­ing the Spaniards out of Trinidad for a short time. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of var­i­ous First Peo­ples of Trinidad and To­ba­go who trace their an­ces­try to pre-Columbian times would be in at­ten­dance.”

On the evening of Oc­to­ber 14, there will be a lec­ture on the theme de­liv­ered by Dr Claudius Fer­gus at the Ari­ma Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre, An­gli­can Street, Ari­ma.

First Peo­ples Her­itage Week

from Oc­to­ber 12-19, 2024

Sat­ur­day, Oc­to­ber 12

Evening of As­tron­o­my (Mean­ing of the Stars to the In­dige­nous Peo­ples) – Cal­vary Hill Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre, 6 pm. 

Sun­day, Oc­to­ber 13

Wa­ter Rit­u­al – Ari­ma Riv­er Blan­chisseuse Road, 6.30 am.

Mon­day, Oc­to­ber 14

HYARI­MA (Day of Recog­ni­tion) 

• ↓Cer­e­mo­ny at the Hyari­ma Mon­u­ment, Ari­ma, 6.30 am.

• ↓Lec­ture on the Theme at the Ari­ma Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre fea­tur­ing Dr Claudius Fer­gus, 5 pm.

Tues­day, Oc­to­ber 15

Film Screen­ing – US Em­bassy Pub­lic Af­fairs Di­vi­sion at May­or’s Tem­po­rary Of­fice Ari­ma, 1.30 pm.    

Wednes­day, Oc­to­ber 16

Re­mem­ber­ing the An­ces­tors, Red House, Port-of-Spain, 8.30 am.  

Thurs­day, Oc­to­ber 17

FREE DAY

Fri­day, Oc­to­ber 18

Ac­tiv­i­ties at Her­itage Vil­lage Site

Sat­ur­day, Oc­to­ber 19

PAN FI­ES­TA — Ari­ma Velo­drome