TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, October 2011 (by Dr. Kumar Mahabir): The Divali holiday in Trinidad and Tobago coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Divali Nagar, the first Hindu theme park in the world.
In the week leading to Divali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, over ten million deyas [clay lamps] are lit in homes, temples, offices, streets and parks. This festival has become the second-largest, open-air, national festival in multi-ethnic Trinidad and Tobago, after Carnival.
The hub of all Divali celebrations in the island is the Divali Nagar site in Central Trinidad, which was established in 1986. Indeed, the Nagar is the most-frequently visited entertainment centre in the country during Divali, second only to the Grand Stand in the Queen’s Park Savannah during Carnival.
The Nagar provides a public stage for local, regional and international performing artistes. These models, singers, dancers, musicians, choirs and orchestras entertain locals, as well as visitors from the rest of the world. The Nagar has grown to epic proportions, attracting many artistes and tourists to this international spiritual tourist destination. They come from Belize, Jamaica, St. Vincent, Grenada, St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana and Suriname in the Caribbean. Others come from French Guiana, U.S.A, U.K., Holland and India.
For nine nights, the Nagar is transformed into a blend of the sacred and secular, where the bustle of commerce mingles with the melody of prayer. Booths showcase and sell products and services to approximately 150,000 visitors. Commercial booths sell mainly Indian clothes, footwear, jewellery, accessories, music, movies, furniture, appliances, and religious and household items. In recent years, the Nagar has also accommodated an Indian Trade Fair. This is a flea market operated by about 25 businessmen from India.
Established in 1986, the reception towards the Divali Nagar in Trinidad and Tobago has been so tremendous that it has inspired Hindu theme parks and other Nagars in the rest of the world. In 2005, Toronto in Canada celebrated its first Divali Nagar, followed by Florida in the USA in 2008. In 2005, Swaminayaran Akshardham in Delhi in India, established the second Hindu theme park in the world.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Indian diaspora came mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar between 1845 and 1917 when some 148,000 East Indians were brought to work on the sugar and cocoa plantations.