The Na­tion­al Coun­cil of Or­isha El­ders of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NCOETT) com­mem­o­rat­ed Earth Day 2026 with an an­ces­tral ob­ser­vance at the Lopinot An­ces­tral Grounds last Wednes­day, bring­ing to­geth­er devo­tees, cul­tur­al prac­ti­tion­ers and na­tion­al fig­ures in a gath­er­ing that un­der­scored en­vi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, cul­tur­al con­ti­nu­ity and col­lec­tive re­flec­tion.

Held in align­ment with the Unit­ed Na­tions ob­ser­vance of In­ter­na­tion­al Moth­er Earth Day, the event ho­n­oured Ma­ma Lat­te—a Cre­ole ex­pres­sion shaped by French Pa­tois in­flu­ences and con­nect­ed to the Yoru­ba un­der­stand­ing of Onilé, revered with­in the Or­isha tra­di­tion as Moth­er Earth.

Es­tab­lished in 2002 un­der the lead­er­ship of Clarence Forde, the coun­cil’s Earth Day ob­ser­vance has grown in­to a na­tion­al plat­form for rit­u­al ex­pres­sion, cul­tur­al ed­u­ca­tion and com­mu­ni­ty en­gage­ment. This year’s re­turn to the Lopinot An­ces­tral Grounds re­in­forced the site’s sig­nif­i­cance as a place of an­ces­tral mem­o­ry and spir­i­tu­al con­ti­nu­ity. Through li­ba­tion, drum­ming, song and of­fer­ings, par­tic­i­pants ho­n­oured the Or­ishas and their an­ces­tors, af­firm­ing the en­dur­ing re­la­tion­ship be­tween peo­ple, land and her­itage.

The ob­ser­vance fea­tured a cer­e­mo­ni­al pro­ces­sion and the shar­ing of com­mu­nal meals, re­flect­ing long­stand­ing tra­di­tions of uni­ty and reci­procity. Drum­ming and cer­e­mo­ni­al rhythms were led by the Egbe Omo Oni Is­ese Tra­di­tion­al African As­so­ci­a­tion un­der the guid­ance of cul­tur­al prac­ti­tion­er Michael Di­az, whose per­for­mances an­chored the day’s pro­ceed­ings.

Among those in at­ten­dance was Pen­ne­lope Beck­les, Leader of the Op­po­si­tion and MP for Ari­ma, re­flect­ing con­tin­ued na­tion­al recog­ni­tion of the Or­isha faith’s role in T&T’s cul­tur­al and spir­i­tu­al land­scape.

“The mes­sage at this time is one of re­flec­tion and re­align­ment,” said Ba­balor­isha Neal Ryan Rawl­ins, sec­re­tary of the Coun­cil. “There is a need to re­con­nect with val­ues that sup­port bal­ance, re­spect for life and pos­i­tive liv­ing, par­tic­u­lar­ly in a time of glob­al un­cer­tain­ty.”

The Na­tion­al Coun­cil of Or­isha El­ders traces its for­mal es­tab­lish­ment to 1988, fol­low­ing a his­toric vis­it by Oku­nade Si­juwade, the 50th Ooni of Ifè, who di­rect­ed the for­ma­tion of a uni­fied body to safe­guard Or­isha tra­di­tions in T&T. In­stalled on Au­gust 6, 1988, and in­cor­po­rat­ed in 1989, the Coun­cil con­tin­ues to serve as the prin­ci­pal in­ter­face be­tween the Or­isha com­mu­ni­ty and the State, ad­vanc­ing cul­tur­al preser­va­tion, spir­i­tu­al gov­er­nance and pub­lic rep­re­sen­ta­tion.