A scaled-down ver­sion of the an­nu­al Amerindi­an Her­itage Fes­ti­val took place for three days from Oc­to­ber 12 to 14. Of­fi­ci­at­ing was Chief Ri­car­do Bharath Her­nan­dez, leader of the First Peo­ples San­ta Rosa Com­mu­ni­ty in Ari­ma.

Cel­e­bra­tions in­clud­ed a cer­e­mo­ny at the Red House in Port-of-Spain, a wa­ter cer­e­mo­ny at a lo­ca­tion off the Ari­ma Blan­chisseuse Road and a tra­di­tion­al smoke cer­e­mo­ny at the Hyari­ma Mon­u­ment in Ari­ma.

Pri­or to COVID-19, the fes­ti­val at­tract­ed large del­e­ga­tions from Suri­name, Guyana, Be­lize and oth­er Caribbean coun­tries who took part in a pro­ces­sion through Ari­ma and oth­er ac­tiv­i­ties. The small­er fes­ti­val held this year served as a time for re­flec­tion and recog­ni­tion of the in­dige­nous peo­ples in the land they once called Kairi.

Chief Ricardo enjoys the river water

Edison Boodoosingh

A breath of smoke done as a form of purification

Edison Boodoosingh

Women lighting incense near the river

Edison Boodoosingh