CASAN­DRA THOMP­SON�FORBES

The 25th an­niver­sary of the To­ba­go Her­itage Fes­ti­val be­gan with a vi­brant ex­plo­sion of colour, danc­ing, drum­ming, singing, steel­pan and dra­ma, when its open­ing cer­e­mo­ny was held on Fri­day night. Un­der the theme Yours, Mine and Ours: To Pre­serve and Pro­tect, the To­ba­go Fes­ti­vals Com­mis­sion sought the ex­per­tise of award-win­ning mas de­sign­er Bri­an Mac Far­lane to trans­mit a larg­er-than-life ex­pe­ri­ence to pa­trons with glitz and glam­our.

Mac Far­lane's pro­duc­tion sym­bol­ised the sig­nif­i­cance of To­ba­go's her­itage in defin­ing a na­tion and linked all the el­e­ments that are unique to To­ba­go's cul­tur­al her­itage. It was beau­ti­ful­ly rep­re­sent­ed in dances such as the bele, the brush back, the heel and toe and the jig. Pa­trons were al­so en­ticed mu­si­cal­ly with sounds of the steel­pan, tam­boo–bam­boo and African drums.

Over 400 per­form­ers graced the spec­tac­u­lar­ly-lit dome-shaped stage, which was de­signed like a silk cot­ton tree-a tra­di­tion­al meet­ing place in To­ba­go's cul­ture. The crowd was treat­ed to seam­less tran­si­tions of events, from the Mo­ri­ah ole time wed­ding, rit­u­al­is­tic boat chris­ten­ing, wake and bon­go, the rise of the bele queen, folk­tale and su­per­sti­tions and the Buc­coo Reef alive with fau­na.

The event end­ed with a mag­nif­i­cent dis­play of fire­works. The sil­ver ju­bilee of the fes­ti­val was de­scribed as the best to date by at­ten­dees. The open­ing cer­e­mo­ny marked the of­fi­cial start of the two week-long To­ba­go Her­itage Fes­ti­val for To­bag­o­ni­ans to show­case their in­dige­nous tal­ent and cul­ture.