Hosay massacre in Trinidad: commemorating Indian martyrdom

THE EDITOR: On October 30, 1884, 22 Indian indentured labourers died, and some 120 others were wounded in Trinidad’s most violent and devastating movement since the emancipation of the slaves in 1838. This day marked the observance of the annual Hosay or Muharram procession of Indian indentured immigrants in Trinidad. Indians (both Hindus and Muslims) were not the sole participants in Hosay in the multi-ethnic society. Many historians who have studied the event claim that Africans were also involved in the Hosay observances. They witnessed the spectacle firsthand, and even participated in the commemoration by carrying large tazias on their shoulders, or by playing drums in the procession along the streets. On this shocking and horrific day in 1884, the English authorities emphatically demonstrated their determination to control Indians on the colony by denying them what they believed was their right to religious freedom.   
  
According to Neil Sookdeo in his book, Freedom, Festivals and Caste in Trinidad after Slavery (2000), Hosay in 1884 was regarded, as a “grand, island-wide, multi-racial festival led by Indians.” This ten-day religious celebration culminates on the final day with a large, spectacular street procession involving music, song, and mock theatrical combats. The most attractive element of the festival is the immense tazias (model mausoleums of Muslim martyrs) which are elaborately decorated and paraded through the streets. In the months preceding the ‘Muharram Massacre’ of 1884, the English had set legal restrictions upon the observance of the festival. Hindus and Africans were not allowed to participate in the festival, and processions were banned from leaving the estate to join other processions from other estates.

Many reasons have been given by various researchers and historians for the restrictions which were placed on the festival, but the fundamental idea which surrounds them all remains the need for the colonists to control the new and rapidly-growing Indian population on the island. The laws were meant to prevent the Indian communities in sugarcane estates across the island from consolidating. Hosay allowed the Indians throughout the island to form a tremendous gathering, which the planters believed, could at any time attack the colonial government.

It has also been argued that there was also the need to prevent the continuance of the ‘heathen’ practices of these people, and the desire to Anglicanise the Indians, which led to the formulation of these restrictions. The colonial militia was alerted, armed and placed at different locations across the island to ensure that the celebration was not performed. In Port of Spain, the capital, about 40 armed policemen were stationed, and up to 80 were positioned in San Fernando (where the largest processions on the island were usually to be found). In his MA Thesis on Hosay (1984), Dr Kenneth Parmasad notes that never before was such a large, armed force assembled in colonial Trinidad, or the Caribbean, at any cultural event.

Many Indians viewed the new restrictions as a direct infringement on their freedom to worship. Defying the restrictions placed upon them, Indians (Hindus and Muslims alike) from over 30 estates and villages, came together to commemorate Hosay. Kelvin Singh’s detailed account of the occurrences of October 30, 1884 in his book, Bloodstained Tombs (1998), reveals the horror of the situation that took place in San Fernando that day. In the midst of celebratory tassa drumming, singing, and shouts of joy, came screams of shock, confusion and terror as the authorities fired volleys of bullets at the large procession gathered to worship at San Fernando that day. The government had indeed kept their word to eliminate anyone who defied their authority.

They hastened to ensure that the horrifying details of the Muharram Massacre did not reach Colonial India. The events of this significant day in the history of Trinidad are known by very few people. Sadly, this day has been overlooked in many of the texts that chronicle the nation’s experiences during colonisation. Our 30,000 Hindu and Muslim foreparents who defiantly took to the streets on October 30, 1884 to fight for their freedom to worship, knowing that their fate could be death, have been all but forgotten.

On the final day of Pitri Paksha last year, Hindu activist, Ravi-ji, led a procession to Mon Repos San Fernando, the site of the massacre, to commemorate the 119th anniversary of the Muharram Massacre in Trinidad. There, offerings were made to those 22 valiant men and women who risked all and lost their lives in order to preserve their heritage in this new land. This initiative by Ravi-ji and his colleagues should act as the first step in a movement towards national recognition of those brave martyrs’ sacrifice.

DR KUMAR MAHABIR,
President, Association of Caribbean Anthropologists (ACA)
San Juan