Thousands of islanders dressed in traditional African garb danced in winding processions on Sunday, marking the 170th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean.
Crowds strutted behind trucks carrying musicians who banged on African drums in a parade stretching for several kilometers. Trinidad has one of the region's largest Emancipation Day celebrations.
Other partygoers led traditional African chants that reverberated through the downtown streets of the capital, Port-of-Spain.
As the procession snaked on the edge of one of Trinidad's poorest neighborhoods, people stood on the roof of a public housing high rise, clapping to the rhythms. Others watched from balconies or the roadside as Prime Minister Patrick Manning, wearing a dashiki, led the parade for part of the way.
"This is my culture," said Molly Chance, a retired janitor who danced in the street dressed in a blue, flowing African dress. "We have to recognize our ancestors."
The parade culminated several days of events in Trinidad that included a Saturday night concert by South African singer Jabu Khanyile. Koudjay, a Haitian band, performed earlier in the week and participated in Sunday's procession.
The organizers of Trinidad's Emancipation Day sought to highlight Haiti this year in recognition of the bicentennial of Haitian independence from France and the founding of the first free black republic.
Britain, which colonized Trinidad and many other Caribbean islands, brought West Africans to work as slaves in the region in the 1600s. Many worked on sugar plantations before the British Empire abolished slavery on Aug. 1, 1834.
Following slavery's abolition, indentured workers were brought from India to some Caribbean territories to work the sugar plantations. The legacy is evident in Trinidad and Tobago, where the 1.3 million population is roughly split in half between those of African and East Indian descent.
Trinidad gained independence from Britain in 1962, around the same time other Caribbean islands were pushing for the same. Trinidad's government began officially recognizing Emancipation Day in 1984, said Khafra Kambon, lead organizer for the country's events.
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