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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2015 22:33:07 GMT
Thought before I go into the melee I should give some basic information on Trinidad and Tobago for folks who know nothing about the twin republic. Trinidad and Tobago is located in the lower southern belt of the Caribbean near to the South American continent and has a population of approximately 1.3 million.In fact the larger island Trinidad is closer to Venezuela than she is to her twin sister isle Tobago..you can literally see Venezuela from the southern part of Trinidad ...so yea we got illegal migration and drug ish occurring on dt end lol.Her fauna and flora is very similar to South America since we broke off from there so you find a diverse landscape for the island unlike the other Caribbean islands. In terms of our population,Tobago is mostly African and has a population of a little over 60,000 persons. Trinidad which is the larger island has the remainder of our population and our population is broken down into East Indians -35.5% Africans-34.2 % Mixed -23 % ( dougla pop is 7.7% , they are a product of African and East Indian mixing) Other -6.2% undeclared and 1.4% other we do have Syrians,Chinese and local whites. In terms of the African and East Indian population..they used to be 40% but they dropped as there is a significant degree of race mixing.I reckon our next census the mixed population will increase from that 23% figure. Our religious religion breakdown is as such: 57% Christian 18.1% Hindu 5.0% Muslim 7.3% Other 13.3% None/Not stated In terms of economy,Trinidad and Tobago is considered to be a high income country.Tobago's economy is based mainly on Tourism whilst Trinidad's own is based mainly on oil and gas with various downstream industries such as methanol,urea,ammonia production etc.Manufacturing and Tourism also factors significantly towards our GDP....right now we are trying to diversify our economy in terms of tourism especially for Trinidad, the creative sector,ICT,marine sector,downstream industry and agribusiness just to name a few. Trinidad and Tobago is known for its Carnival and is the birthplace of steelpan, limbo, and the music styles of calypso, soca and chutney.Trinidad is also home to the Banwari Trace site, which is the oldest archaeological site in the Caribbean. In terms of Trinidad...she has a long history of migration in that a significant percentage of our population grandparents or great-grandparents originate from other Caribbean islands in particular St.Vincent,Grenada,St.Lucia,Barbados and Guyana...two of my own grandparents are from St.Vincent ....just thought that should be mentioned before I go into the Yoruba stuff since a significant part of our population are not ethnically Yorubas.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2015 2:15:59 GMT
A few Yorubas that came to Trinidad arrived as slaves pre-emancipation (before 1833), however the bulk of the Yorubas who entered into Trinidad came as indentured laborers post emancipation in the 1840s-1867.Most of them were captured as slaves, however the British freed them and settled them in Sierra Leone upon which they were later sent to Trinidad to fill the labor needs on the plantations as newly freed slaves post-apprenticeship were reluctant to work the fields.It is one of the factors that might explain why they were able to hold onto aspects of their culture to an extent.Basically the bulk of y'all population captivity coincided with the Oyo Empire demise and y'all internecine wars. The sub-groups that came here were the Ijebu,Ijesha,Egba,Oyos and Ekiti.The Oyos,Ijeshas and Ekitis were the larger groups and the general consensus is that due to Oyos making up such a significant part of the group and their political dominance...it explains why the Shango cult and Oyo Orishas hold such prominence in Trinidad.A saraka ceremony was also passed on here in Trinidad.According to Joseph Lewis...the chief tribal groups in Trinidad in 1888 were the Congos,Yarribas and Eboes...again this composition would have been altered as Trinidad received mass migration from the smaller islands due to her being the least populated and due to economic reasons. In terms of the areas in Trinidad that were settled by Yorubas they are Belmont,Diego Martin,East Port-of-Spain that at one time was known as Yarriba Village/Yarraba Town,Tunapuna/El dorado,Gasparillo,Caratal,Claxton Bay and Carapichima in which there was a settlement called "Yarraba Wood" which is now known as Chase and Mcdonald villages.There were also Yoruba blocks in Cocorite,Carenage,Petit Valley,St.Joseph,Arouca,Princess Town,Freeport,Couva and Third and Fifth Company Villages.Third and Fifth Company Villages were villages created for African Americans ex-soldiers in the 1800s that gained their freedom after fighting for the British against America.The African Americans villages also contained ethnic Africans to an extent such as the Yorubas,Congos,Hausas and Mandingoes.You do find shrines in those various locations in Trinidad btw Yoruba culture was able to survive to a good extent despite their small population relative to other ethnic groups due to Yorubas clannishness for lack of a better word and also their ability to absorb other ethnic groups in particular within their religion.Btw the Yorubas had a close relationship with the Rada group which are descendants of Dahomey ppl and up to this day folks from both the Rada and Orisha/Ifa folks attend each other feasts and stuff.Most of the Yoruba impact in Trinidad is via religion towards the development of the syncretic religion known as Trinidad Orisha/Shango Baptist faith and also Trinidad's musical genre of Calypso which were influenced by the Trinidad Orisha and Spiritual Baptist religious music.Orisha folks in Trinidad and Tobago also contributed towards us celebrating Emancipation Day as a national holiday due to the efforts of Jaja Onilu and his folks. Araba of Osogbo visit to Trini 2015
Trini Orisha Folks
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2015 2:25:42 GMT
An old song by the Growling Tiger produced in 1939 called "Yarraba Shango". That's calypso btw
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2015 2:28:51 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2015 3:29:58 GMT
Honorebu..is there word such as kaiso in y'all language?
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Post by Honorebu on Dec 5, 2015 3:43:38 GMT
Interesting to know a lot of Yorubas in Serrie leone were later to moved to Trinidad.
I'd like to know more about the Yorubas in serrie leone to see If there are any similarities
The Rada(Dahomey) aspect sounds interesting too
IrekeOnibudo will surely love this
@quimicababes ,seems the Shango Baptist faith is like a fusion of Christianity and Ifa bah?
You need to find another word for that clannishness lol
I wonder why them reds changed the names of those towns tho.Very sad!Always trying to suppress all things black.
I even read it somewhere that Starbucks logo is a picture of Yemoja(Yemaya)
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Post by Honorebu on Dec 5, 2015 3:53:21 GMT
Honorebu ..is there word such as kaiso in y'all language? To the best of my knowledge,no but I found this as regards the kaiso music of Trinidad
There seems to be two different schools of thought on the etymology but the bottom line is that it's not Yoruba but I don't want to claim authority on this.I might be wrong
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2015 4:01:52 GMT
Interesting to know a lot of Yorubas in Serrie leone were later to moved to Trinidad.
I'd like to know more about the Yorubas in serrie leone to see If there are any similarities
The Rada(Dahomey) aspect sounds interesting too
IrekeOnibudo will surely love this
@quimicababes ,seems the Shango Baptist faith is like a fusion of Christianity and Ifa bah?
You need to find another word for that clannishness lol
I wonder why them reds changed the names of those towns tho.Very sad!Always trying to suppress all things black.
I even read it somewhere that Starbucks logo is a picture of Yemoja(Yemaya)
You didn't even answer my question...smdh...anyways osoronga answered it .Shango Baptist faith is a fusion of Christianity and Ifa....not all Ifa folks here practice Trinidad Orisha tho as some have made a conscious effort to remove anything that is non-Yoruba from their religion.Truth is most of the Yoruba religions that survived in the New World are syncretic as Africans had no choice but to conceal their religion within Catholicism etc so as not to be punished.For example in Trinidad the Shouter Baptists which are closely linked to the Orisha folks were banned from practicing their faith...that law is what gave rise to the creation of the steelpan further in time as they couldn't drum and sing...steelpan was a substitute.Yea...African religion and culture has been deliberately suppressed in the New World.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2015 4:04:08 GMT
Honorebu ..is there word such as kaiso in y'all language? To the best of my knowledge,no but I found this as regards the kaiso music of Trinidad
There seems to be two different schools of thought on the etymology but the bottom line is that it's not Yoruba but I don't want to claim authority on this.I might be wrongI asked cuz there is also a claim of it being a Yoruba word.
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Post by Honorebu on Dec 5, 2015 4:07:53 GMT
Interesting to know a lot of Yorubas in Serrie leone were later to moved to Trinidad.
I'd like to know more about the Yorubas in serrie leone to see If there are any similarities
The Rada(Dahomey) aspect sounds interesting too
IrekeOnibudo will surely love this
@quimicababes ,seems the Shango Baptist faith is like a fusion of Christianity and Ifa bah?
You need to find another word for that clannishness lol
I wonder why them reds changed the names of those towns tho.Very sad!Always trying to suppress all things black.
I even read it somewhere that Starbucks logo is a picture of Yemoja(Yemaya)
You didn't even answer my question...smdh...anyways osoronga answered it .Shango Baptist faith is a fusion of Christianity and Ifa....not all Ifa folks here practice Trinidad Orisha tho as some have made a conscious effort to remove anything that is non-Yoruba from their religion. Truth is most of the Yoruba religions that survived in the New World are syncretic as Africans had no choice but to conceal their religion within Catholicism etc so as not to be punished.For example in Trinidad the Shouter Baptists which are closely linked to the Orisha folks were banned from practicing their faith...that law is what gave rise to the creation of the steelpan further in time as they couldn't drum and sing...steelpan was a substitute.Yea...African religion and culture has been deliberately suppressed in the New World. Haba! I already answered it na True words per the emboldened
And tell Osoronga to continue snobbing us Its all good. She didn't even reply you here
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2015 4:13:29 GMT
Honorebu I didn't ask her it here...I went direct lol
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Post by Honorebu on Dec 5, 2015 4:21:58 GMT
Honorebu I didn't ask her it here...I went direct lol
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Post by IrekeOnibudo on Dec 5, 2015 8:37:30 GMT
Big, big thread @quimicababes I have a few questions that I am hoping you would set me straight on, but they will hold till later today This thread did put me in the mood for some music too. An Orisha ceremony in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, in 2010. After an evident manifestation by Ochosi (the hunter), the group proceeds around the block.
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Post by dansoye1 on Dec 5, 2015 9:06:40 GMT
@ quimicacabes
I'm quite fascinated and beguiled by the narratives you posted above.
It really punched me into thinking about Yorubas in dispora vis-a- vis T&T as a country in that a lot had happened which needs to be
told to the next generation so that they can take some positives from it.
That being said,never knew that some African captives who were intercepted on sea and later settled Sierra Leone still had some taken
to T&T.I only read that they were brought to Lagos and Onitsha.
Please,can you shed more light as to if the Yoruba captives taken to T&T post Emancipation period as indentured labours still maintain their
family names like the Falana of Cuba and Dante of Salvador,Bahia in Brazil?
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