TRINIDAD, February 21, 2012 (Paras Ramoutar): Trinidad and Tobago Hindus joined the rest of the Indian Diaspora world wide in the annual observance of Maha Shiva Ratri on Sunday, Feb. 19, from midnight. The observance juxtaposed with the annual pre-lenten celebration, Carnival, which is celebrated here on Monday February 20 and Tuesday February 21. Whilst non-Hindus opted to hit the fetes and parties and jumped to the gyrating music and songs of the steel pan, soca trucks and calypsos, Hindus assembled in the more than 400 mandirs and at special places of worship to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva, who is revered here with great enthusiasm and holiness. For the past weeks, Hindus have been abstained from all forms of merriment, alcoholic drinks and other forms of worldly pleasures in preparation for the observance.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who has just returned from her Indian safari, observed Shiva Ratri in her constituency of Siparia. The youthful leader of the Congress of the People, and Minister of Legal Affairs, Prakash Ramadhar viewed Shiva Ratri is an opportunity to rejuvenate one’s self in an effort to stabilised and enhanced serious national development and nation-building traits. Minister of Finance, Winston Dookeran, said that Shiva Ratri is an observance which Hindus observe with diligence overshadowed with an overwhelming aura of spirituality, a feature which the world society needs with all the urgency at its command. Shiva Ratri is one the several religious observances and customs which our forefathers brought with them when they came here between 1845 and 1917 from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India to work on the sugar and cocoa plantations. Approximately 25 per cent of the population of 1.3 million are Hindus.