Indo-Trinidadian

Carnival 2012 Countryside Indo-Trinidadian Industry Port of Spain Steelpans


Indo-Trinidadian
 

religious flags in front of the dwelling indicate Indian ancestry

Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago of Indian or other South Asian ancestry.

 

Hindu temple

Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians has now become interchangeable with Indians or East Indians. These were people who were taken from India by the British either as (indentured laborers) workers or educated servicemen in the 1830s. Most of the Hindus and Muslims of Trinidad and Tobago are Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians.

 


In the book Finding a Place, author, journalist, editor, journalist and academic, Kris Rampersad challenges and rejects the notion of East Indians to describe people in Indian heritage in the Caribbean and traces their migration and adaptation from hypenated isolation inherent in the description Indo-Trinidadian or Indo-Caribbean for the unhypehnated integration into their societies as IndoTrinidadian and IndoCaribbean that embraces both their ancestral and their national identities.

 

mosque

 


Some Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians can trace their ancestry to indentured labourers who immigrated to Guyana, Jamaica, St. Vincent, Grenada, or other islands in the Caribbean. Many are descendants of later immigrants from India, predominantly doctors and Gujarati businessmen.
 


A majority of Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians are Hindu; a very large minority are Muslim. Three national holidays, Indian Arrival Day, Divali and Eid-ul-Fitr are primarily celebrated by Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians. The Opposition United National Congress draws most of its support from the Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian community, and the new party: The Congress of the People

 

mosque

A major Hindu organisation in Trinidad is the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha led by Satnarayan Maharaj. The major Muslim organisation is the Anjuman Sunnat-ul-Jamaat Association (ASJA) led by Yacoob Ali. Although these organisations were once seen to speak for the vast majority of Hindus and Muslims in Trinidad, their membership has gradually eroded but they still remain the largest organized voice for the respective Indian communities.

 


Trinidadian and Tobagonians that consider themselves Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians have retained their distinctive culture, unlike the original South Asian people that arrived earlier as indentured servants, but also function in a multi-racial milieu. The Bhojpuri, Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam languages of their ancestors have largely been lost, although a number of these words have entered the Trinidadian vernacular. Indian movies, Indian music and Indian cooking have entered the mainstream culture of Trinidad and Tobago. Chutney music rivals calypso and soca music during the Carnival season. Divali and Eid ul-Fitr are national holidays, and Hosay (Ashura) Phagwah is widely celebrated.

Text from Wikipedia

 

 

 

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Carnival 2012 Countryside Indo-Trinidadian Industry Port of Spain Steelpans

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