The Maraval Cultural Committee (MCC) continued its annual Good Friday tradition of marrying two “bobolees” but with an international theme this year.
While like other village groups across T&T, the MCC would usually feature local politicians and public figures in place of Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ, their choices for this year’s celebration were Mr. Pu-Ton and Ms. Jay-Duhh–a play on Russian President Vladimir Putin and American actress Jada Pinkett-Smith.
In a brief interview on Friday, resident William Boisselle, who has been participating in the tradition for over 50 years, revealed the theme for this year was a plea for Putin to end Russian’s war in Ukraine, which began on February 24.
“We asking him to stop the war please. Killing innocent people doesn’t make any sense. At the end of it nobody wins a war,” Boisselle said.
He said that Pinkett-Smith was selected to be the wife in the marriage based on her husband Will Smith’s actions in slapping comedian Chris Rock during this year’s Academy Awards ceremony after he (Rock) joked about her medical condition.
“If she has the power to make a man slap somebody, she has the power to stop a war. So we put them together so she could tell him (Putin),” Boisselle said.
Asked how he and members of the committee selected the theme annually, he explained that they would put the names of controversial public figures into “hat” and select the winner by a random draw.
“Rowley went in the hat, Imbert went in the hat and Al-Rawi. It so happens that these two came out of the hat, so it worked out nice for everybody,” Boisselle said.
“We really wanted to beat Rowley though,” Boisselle said, as he claimed that the Prime Minister was detached from society.
The committee’s celebrations, which is funded by donations from residents, included an all fours tournament for adults and children’s activities including an Easter egg hunt.
Boisselle and other residents of Clovis Trace were expected to parade the effigies in a mock wedding ceremony yesterday afternoon, before children and some adults are allowed to beat them with sticks.