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Trinidad and Tobago

You’ve made a wonderful decision to discover Trinidad and Tobago! Tobago is perfect for restoration: lazing on picture-perfect beaches or an escape into nature – whether silently observing the island’s diverse wildlife, or pushing your body to the limit while mountain biking or windsurfing! Trinidadians work hard and play hard: the island’s an economic powerhouse and in some ways the festival capital of the Caribbean. But then there are oases like Grande Rivière, where you can spend the weekend turtle watching, kayaking and hiking in near perfect peace. And Discover Trinidad & Tobago is here to help you make the most of your time here.

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Events for 2016/2017

Trinidad and Tobago are festival islands where there is always something to celebrate. If you’re an overseas visitor planning a vacation or holiday where you want to immerse yourself in the culture and lifestyle of Trinidad and Tobago, there are countless opportunities on the islands’ diverse cultural calendar around which you can plan your trip. Here are some of the biggest and most distinctive festivals, holidays and events.

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November 2016

26th: Guardian Group SHINE 5k & 10k
International Surf Festival
Hosay (Trinidad)
Best Village competition finals
Pan is Beautiful
Scarborough Cup Golf Tournament (Tobago)
Tobago Christmas Caravan
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Plymouth, Black Rock, Les Coteaux, Moriah, Scarborough, Montgomery

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December 2016

8th–11th: Christmas with the Marionettes Chorale (Queen’s Hall, Trinidad)
Tobago Pro Surf Tournament
8th Annual Tobago House of Assembly Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Louis D’or Nurseries
Assembly Day: Tobago House of Assembly celebrates and awards Tobagonians’ achievements, along with exhibitions and a sports and recreation day
Paramin Parang Festival (Trinidad)
Tobago Flying Colours: annual kite flying festival in Plymouth
25th (public holiday): Christmas Day
26th (public holiday): Boxing Day, marked with horse racing and parties

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• 2017 •

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January 2016

1st: New Year’s Day – friends old and new; parties great and small. The good-luck dish for bringing in the new year is our pelau with black-eyed peas.
2nd (public holiday): New Year’s Day observed
Carnival season begins
Sailing season begins
Carnival Educative Arts Festival & Carnival Caravan (Tobago)
22nd: TATIL Open Golf Tournament
28th: Chinese New Year (year of the rooster)
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Pembroke, Parlatuvier, Spring Garden, Plymouth and Mt Pleasant

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Febuary 2016

Carnival Educative Arts Festival (Tobago)
Tobago Carnival Regatta (Tobago)
6–8th: Energy Conference and Tradeshow 2017
10–11th: National Single Pan & Small Conventional Semi-Finals
12th: National Panorama Semi-Finals (Medium & Large bands)
18th: Calypso Fiesta (Trinidad)
18th: Red Cross Kiddies Carnival (Trinidad)
19th: National Junior Panorama Finals
20th: National Junior Calypso Monarch Final
21st: Kings and Queens Senior FinalS
21st: Rapso Explosion
21st: National Stickfighting Finals
22st: Traditional and Individual Judging (Trinidad)
23rd: Terrific Thursday Kaisorama (Trinidad)
24th: Traditional Carnival Characters Festival (Trinidad)
24th: Re-enactment of Canboulay Riots
24th: Soca Monarch Finals (Trinidad) – this annual double-header takes place on Carnival Friday or “Fantastic Friday” as it’s come to be known, and showcases soca artists from around the region vying for two different titles: Power Soca Monarch and Groovy Soca Monarch
25th: Junior Parade of the Bands
25th: National Panorama Finals (Medium & Large) – the finest steelbands compete for the title of the year in Trinidad 26th: Nostalgia Parade
26th: Moka Sunday Carnival Fete
26th: Dimanche Gras and National Calypso Monarch Final (Trinidad)
27th & 28th: Carnival Monday and Tuesday — J’ouvert and Parade of the Bands
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Hope, Adelphi, Buccoo, Franklyn and Bon Accord

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March 2016

Talk Tent (calypso and comedy, Queen’s Hall, Trinidad)
Carnival cool-downs
Caribbean Institute of Astronomy’s Annual Star Party (Old US Tracking Station, Chaguaramas, Trinidad)
Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament
Trinidad & Tobago Golf Open
Phagwa (Holi)
30th (public holiday): Spiritual “Shouter” Baptist Liberation Day commemorates the 1951 repeal of the colonial-era Shouters Prohibition Ordinance (1917), effectively banning this Christian and Orisha syncretic religion. The Baptists are also referred to as Shouter Baptists and Shango Baptists. The holiday is marked with performances and religious observances
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Mt. St. George, Mason Hall, Roxborough, Bon Accord
Turtle nesting season officially begins on both islands (Trinidad’s north and east coasts, and the leeward coast of Tobago)

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April 2016

1st: 15th Annual Jazz Artists on the Greens
4th–7th: RBL Caribbean Junior Open Golf Tournament
7th–9th: Rally Trinidad
14th–17th (with public holidays): long Easter weekend features hot cross buns, horse racing at the Santa Rosa track in Arima (Trinidad), and goat and crab races in Tobago’s Mt. Pleasant (Monday) and Buccoo (Tuesday). Public holidays are obseved on Good Friday, and Easter Sunday (with the public holiday falling on the Monday). Look out for the beating of the Good Friday bobolee, an effigy of Judas Iscariot. These days, you’re just as likely to see effigies of politicians, notorious characters of all kinds and occasionally some very specific ones representing particularly bad ex-boyfriends.
21st–23rd: Open House Music Festival (Trinidad Gospel Fest)
22nd: Earth Day
22nd–30th: Tobago Jazz Experience
26th–28th: 18th Annual SALISES Conference 2017 — “Nations, Dislocations, Transformations: Sustainable Development in SIDS”
26th–30th: Bocas Lit Fest – The Trinidad & Tobago Literary Festival
TBC: La Divina Pastora (Trinidad)
Harvest Festival (Tobago): Goodwood
Pt Fortin Borough Day (Trinidad) — full week of J’ouvert, mas, pan and parties leading up the big street party
Tobago Fashion Coda 2016
Pan on the move / Pan in the 21st Century
Grand Games Athletics Invitational
National Food Truck & Culinary Festival (Trinidad)
Sole to Sole — UWI Dept of Creative & Festival Arts Dance Showcase
The Trinidad & Tobago Hair & Beauty Trade Show

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May 2016

Pan on the move
Maypole Festival (Tobago)
Salsa Fiesta (Trinidad)
European Film Festival (Trinidad)
5th–7th: Republic Bank Decibel Entertainment Conference & Expo
10th: Cotton Tree Foundation Golf Charity Tournament
13th: Prime Minister’s Charity Golf Classic
26th: Scotiabank Against Breast Cancer Ladies’ Golf Tournament
30th (public holiday): Indian Arrival Day
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Delaford, Belle Garden, Mason Hall, Whim
Tobago Sailing Week
Tobago Sea to Sea Marathon
Rapsofest
26th (public holiday): Corpus Christi (Latin for “the body of Christ”) is celebrated by Catholics in honour of the sacramental Eucharist, in commemoration of the Last Supper many Christians receive Communion on this day

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June 2016

TBD (public holiday): Eid-ul-Fitr — the most widely recognised of our Islamic observances, Eid marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, celebrated in homes and mosques
Ganga Dhaara River Festival: honours the descent of India’s sacred River Ganges (Blanchisseuse, Trinidad) 5th: World Environment Day
10th: Rainbow Cup International Triathlon (Tobago)
15th (public holiday): Corpus Christi
17th: Annual Yoruba Village Drum Festival (Trinidad)
17th: Gentlemen Senior’s Golf Classic19 (public holiday): Labour Day, marked by trade union marches and gatherings in Fyzabad (Trinidad) Tobago Day at the Races (Santa Rosa Park, Trinidad)
WeBeat Festival (Festival of culture celebrated in St. James, Trinidad)
Junior Tobago Heritage Festival
Trinidad & Tobago Kingfish Tournament
Dragon Boat Festival (Tobago)
Charlotteville Fisherman’s Fest (Tobago)
St Peter’s Day Fisherman’s Festival
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Lambeau, Bloody Bay, Roxborough

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July 2016

2nd: TTMCO Charity Golf Tournament
15th–1st: Tobago Heritage Festival – celebrating Tobago’s unique contributions to our culture through food, folklore, song and dance, artisan creations and storytelling
Mango Festival
Motor Rally (Tobago)
South Caribbean Open Golf Tournament (Tobago) Tobago Games
Tobago Swim Classic
J’ouvert in July (Trinidad)
T&T Game Fishing: Junior Tournament
Carnival band launch season begins (through to September/October)
Great Fete Weekend (Tobago)
Opera festival (Trinidad)
African Film Festival Trinidad & Tobago
Trade & Investment Convention (Trinidad)
Harvest Festival (Tobago): Castara, Black Rock

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August 2016

1st (public holiday): Emancipation Day
Arima Borough Day: J’ouvert, steelpan, calypso and parties marking the borough’s anniversary (Trinidad)
Castara Fisherman’s Fete (Tobago)
Santa Rosa Festival (Trinidad)
Great Race (Trinidad to Tobago)
Oshun River Festival (Trinidad) — marked by Orisha devotees celebrating the goddess of love, fertility and inland waters Muhtadi International Drumming Festival: started in Canada by Trinidad-born Muhtadi Thomas, and highlights different cultures around the call of the drums (Tobago)
Harvest Festival (Tobago): Speyside
31st (public holiday): Independence Day — commemorates the islands’ independence from Britain in 1962, featuring a parade of the protective services; national awards; and fireworks

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September 2016

Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival – the Caribbean’s second largest festival devoted to film, the ttff showcases full and feature length productions from the region and its diaspora. The festival is supplemented by a series of workshops and training sessions on the art, technique and practicalities involved in the filmmaking process
Trinidad & Tobago Restaurant Week
Tobago International Cycling Classic
Angostura Rum Festival
Tobago Fest (TBD): parties, street parade and J’ouvert. (NB: this event has not taken place in the last few years.)
18th: Living Water Community Charity Golf Tournament
24th (public holiday): Republic Day — marks the adoption in 1976 of a new republican constitution (in which a President replaced the Queen of England as the head of state, and the islands became a republic within the Commonwealth), and the first meeting of the republican parliament
Derby Horse Racing Classics (Trinidad)
Maracas Open Water Classic (Trinidad)
Republic Day Cycling Classic (Trinidad)
Scotiabank Women Against Breast Cancer Walk (WABC)
Panyard Sensations
Tobago International Gospel Festival
San Fernando Jazz Festival (Trinidad)
Best Village competition finals
Parang season: begins with competition at month’s end, runs through December (Trinidad)
Turtle watching season ends

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October 2016

2nd–8th: Tobago International Cycling Classic
9th–16th: Santa Rosa First People’s Heritage Week, where descendants from around the region gather for a smoke ceremony and street procession in Arima (Trinidad)
TBC: Hosay — this festival of Islamic origins commemorates the martyrdom of Hassan and Hussein, grandsons of the Prophet Mohammed. It is principally observed in St James, but Hosay processions may also be seen in Cedros and Curepe. Tadjahs, ornamented replicas of Hussein’s tomb, are carried through the streets to the rhythmic accompaniment of tassa drumming
Taste T&T: (grassroots festival with community cooking competitions, plus an international event where the country’s best chefs show the country’s haute cuisine)
Blue Food Festival (L’Anse Fourmi/Bloody Bay recreation ground, Tobago)
Animae Caribe – Animation and Digital Media Festival (Trinidad)
National Tourism Week
Ramleela Festival (two weeks before Divali, Trinidad)
Cycling on the Avenue
Steelpan & Jazz Festival (Trinidad)
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Patience Hill TBC (public holiday): Divali – the simplest things can create the most arresting sights. To celebrate Divali, small clay bowls known as deyas are filled with oil and lit by cotton wicks. In homes, mandirs and public spaces, the Hindu festival of lights is marked by dispalys of dozens or hundreds or thousands of these tiny flames, symbolising the victory of righteous forces over evil elements. Hindus perform religious ceremonies in worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of light and prosperity

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November 2016

Tobago Christmas Caravan
International Surf Festival
Scarborough Cup Golf Tournament (Tobago)
Guardian Group SHINE 5k & 10k
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Plymouth, Black Rock, Les Couteaux, Moriah, Scarborough, Montgomery
Pan is Beautiful
Harvest Festivals (Tobago): Plymouth, Black Rock, Les Coteaux, Moriah, Scarborough, Montgomery

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December 2016

9th Annual Tobago House of Assembly Tree Lighting Ceremony
Christmas with the Marionettes Chorale (Trinidad)
Paramin Parang Festival (Trinidad)
Assembly Day: Tobago House of Assembly celebrates and awards Tobagonians’ achievements, along with exhibitions and a sports and recreation day
Tobago Flying Colours: annual kite flying festival in Plymouth
25th (public holiday): Christmas Day
26th (public holiday): Boxing Day, marked with horse racing and parties.

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