Fetes

We have come to adopt some of the Trini terminology into our day to day language. It has taken some practice, but with practice comes perfection :)

Some of our new vocabulary terms include:
Fetes: fetes are large gatherings/parties where tons of people attend and are generally held outside. We haven't yet had the privilege to attend a fete, but it is discussed in most Soca songs (soca is a type of caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago) and is part of everyday conversations.
Party: although a typically used word in North America, it is a particularly important term use in Trinidad and needs to be pronounced in a very specific way (pa-tay).

Diwali, Festival of Lights

The students at school had been preparing for Divali since our arrival cutting out and decorating candles. Considering my lack of exposure to the Hindu culture, this was completely new for me. I learned from the students and the teachers the importance of Divali in Trinidad. Considering the large population of Hindus in Trinidad, this festival is a large celebration.

From what I have come to learn, Diwali means "row of lights" and it is a festival where families come together. The lights are decorated around the home as a way to keep away evil spirits. We also found, to our surprise, their generosity with food! Since this is a five-day festival, we would be given free roti whenever we would end up in a Diwali celebration - this to me was such a remarkable part of the festival celebration and hints to the link of Diwali to community/family gatherings.

 The lights are made our of small clay pots. On our drive into St. James, we first saw people gathering around a common area placing these small clay pots and starting to light them one by one. It was beautiful to see how, gradually, people started to come, take candles and contributed to lighting the candles that would eventually form a specific shape and/or Hindu god. As shown below, children would gather and help to light the candles to form the Aum (Om) sign.

Disregarding the fact that we stood our like sore thumbs, everyone was extremely welcoming and were not the least reluctant to integrating us into their celebration. We were given our own candles, and so we got busy lighting as many candles as we could. There was something truly special about gathering together as a community and having each individual working together towards a common goal.

We were also really fortunate to find a street party celebrating Divali, this is where most of the magic happened! They closed up a small street and had rows of Hindu gods statues formed by the candle lights.