Sascha Wil­son

Scores of vil­lagers con­verged on the Gran Chemin, Moru­ga, coast­line yes­ter­day to wit­ness the reen­act­ment of Christo­pher Colum­bus dis­cov­ery of Trinidad 511 years ago. It is dubbed the biggest event in Moru­ga, but pres­i­dent of the Moru­ga 500 Com­mit­tee Pe­ter Glodon com­plained yes­ter­day that the fes­ti­val was be­ing ne­glect­ed by those in au­thor­i­ty. It was their 30th an­nu­al three-fold event which saw the cel­e­bra­tion Dis­cov­ery Day, Eman­ci­pa­tion Day and St Pe­ter's Day. It is held by the com­mit­tee in con­junc­tion with the Princes Town Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion.

Glodon said such a ma­jor event as the reen­act­ment of Colum­bus ar­rival in 1498 was be­ing ig­nored. Since Eman­ci­pa­tion Day was pro­claimed a na­tion­al hol­i­day, he said it has re­placed Dis­cov­ery Day.

Glodon said he was not over look­ing the im­por­tance of Eman­ci­pa­tion, but Dis­cov­ery Day was more of a na­tion­al event.�He said over the years the crowds had dwin­dled be­cause of sev­er­al Eman­ci­pa­tion Day cel­e­bra­tions through­out the coun­try. He called on the Gov­ern­ment to pay more at­ten­tion to the event.

It was around 3 pm yes­ter­day when the Caribs and Arawaks ob­served three ships–San­ta Maria, Pin­ta and Ni­na–com­ing ashore. Armed with spears they stood ready to de­fend their land. When the ships car­ry­ing Ital­ian-born ex­plor­er Colum­bus came on shore there was a clash be­tween the in­dige­nous peo­ples and his army. The army over­pow­ered and cap­tured the na­tives. Colum­bus and his army knelt be­fore a large cross on the beach and prayed. He then de­clared the is­land La Trin­i­ty. Fol­low­ing a march through the streets, they cel­e­brat­ed Eman­ci­pa­tion Day and St Pe­ter's Day with much mer­ri­ment and fun.