Indigenous groups return to Red House to pray.

Indigenous groups return to Red House to pray.
Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday | Tuesday, October 8 2013

AS indigenous groups plan to return to the Red House next week to pray for the peace of the ancestors they believe are buried there, no decision has yet been taken on declaring part, or all of the original seat of Parliament a heritage site.

Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa First Peoples’ Indigenous Community informed Newsday his group, along with the Partners for First Peoples and the Warao indigenous groups, met about a month ago with the Red House Cultural Heritage Team chaired by House Speaker, Wade Mark.

On March 26 last, a number of skeletal remains, cultural and historical artifacts were discovered during initial excavation work as part of the restoration of the Red House. The bones date from 430 AD to 1390 AD.

The Red House Cultural Heritage Team, which includes Senate President Timothy Hamel-Smith and representatives of the National Trust, was appointed by Cabinet to manage aspects of the historical find.

The First Peoples groups believe the remains and artifacts are from their ancestors, and have written the team asking that the Red House be declared a heritage site.

Hernandez reported that the proposal was discussed at their meeting with the team and certain aspects were agreed upon, such as the treatment of the remains — they should be reburied and not exposed or displayed though the cultural artifacts can be — and that an insignia of the First Peoples would be included in the renovation.

He also reported that no decision had been taken on whether part or all of the Red House would be declared a heritage site.

They were informed that the process should be completed by the end of the year, and there were still more tests to be done.

He said, speaking for the Santa Rosa group, certain things were kept “secret” from them, recalling that when they asked to see remains they were told they are “well taken care off”’. “While on one hand we are talking, we still feel as First People we should play a more integral role in what is happening there,” he said.

The team informed them that they will contact them again when they are ready. Hernandez said as descendants of First People according to the United Nations declaration they have a right as it relates to the remains of ancestors but “we are not really given that opportunity fully, (it) still seems as the property of someone else”. “We are hoping at the end of it we will be satisfied,” he added.

He noted that they that they plan to write the Red House Cultural Heritage Team and the police today to request permission to hold a spiritual ceremony on October 17 at 5pm at the Red House. The ceremony is part of the 13th annual First Peoples Heritage Week which will be held from October 11 to 19.

Return of the First Nations.

Return of the First Nations.
By Angelo Bissessarsingh
Trinidad Guardian | Sunday, August 18, 2013

A Warao homestead in 1900

"In parts of Trinidad, there are places with the names Indian Trail or Indian Walk. These have nothing to do with Indo-Trinidadians but with the first peoples of the nation. Many roads that wind sinuously atop ridges also follow old footpaths beaten out through centuries of traversing. In the 17th century, encomiendas or estates were formed by the Spanish colonists where the native Amerindians were herded to become de facto slaves. Only slightly better were the missions established by Capuchin monks from 1687-90 and 1758-86. By 1770, the Amerindians had been decimated by disease and ill usage. Those belonging to the old missions in the north were marshalled in 1786 to a new allotment around the church of Santa Rosa in Arima and the arrangement was described thus in 1857 by Louis A DeVerteuil: “The village of Arima was, for a long time, an Indian mission. Soon after the settlement of the colony, these Indians had been formed into two missions, at Tacarigua and Arima. But as the formation of ingenios, or sugar estates, was proceeding eastward, they were removed to the quarter of Arima, where a village was formed, and houses built by them, on about one thousand acres which had been granted for the formation of a mission, along the right bank of the river, and as the full and unalienable property of the inhabitants. The mission of Arima was settled and governed on the same plan as all such establishments in the Spanish colonies. The Indians had their own municipal government, the first and second alcalde being chosen from among themselves, but under the control of the missionary priest.”

"In the same year, those settled in the south at the foot of Mt Naparima were sent to the Mission of Savanna Grande (Princes Town) in order to make way for the new town of San Fernando. While the people of Arima prospered and mixed into other populations, those at Savanna Grande were seized by apathy due to abuse from those appointed to oversee their welfare. By the time the mission was scrapped in 1840, the Amerindians had fled to South America to live among the Warao of the Orinoco Delta or else had retreated to the high woods. By 1850, there remained almost no evidence that Savanna Grande was once home to the second largest indigenous population in Trinidad. Nevertheless, a strange return occurred every year which saw first peoples coming out of the mangrove swamps of the mainland to visit Trinidad hinted at by EB Underhill in 1862: “The village retains the name of “The Mission,” and has still its Catholic church; but the Indians have long abandoned it, a few only once a year coming over from the continent of South America to pay a brief visit to the graves of their ancestors, and to gather the fruits of the forest in which they formerly lived. They bring with them a few rude baskets and mats for sale.”

"With the passing of the years, those who left Trinidad died but this did not stem the flow of communication between the first peoples and the land from which they were driven. San Fernando Hill (Annaparima) is a sacred place to the Warao and regular pilgrimages were made to this place. The landings would take place on beaches of the south coast such as Erin and Quinam with the silent men and women scantily clad, as was their custom, making their way along long-forgotten pathways to visit their ancestral places and also to trade. San Fernando was a major destination and their arrival never ceased to cause a stir as the ladies of the town sometimes cast clothing on the women to cover their nakedness. Baskets, hammocks and parrots were the trade goods and sometimes gold nuggets from the El Callao mines. Into the well-stocked mercantiles of High Street they went and bartered for shirts, cloth and sometimes fancy items like alarm clocks. Once, an intolerant inspector of the constabulary had a hapless band of these people arrested for indecency owing to their nakedness. These visits were common well into the 1930s but seemed to wane with the advent of World War II and the heavy military presence in the waters around Trinidad. All the same, there are sources who tell that as late as the 1960s canoes were beached at Puerto Grande near Erin and these ancient peoples wended their way across paths known only to them, returning before sunset and departing over the horizon."

Amerindians want say in T&T census.

Amerindians want say in T&T census.
Trinidad Guardian | January 12, 2011

Descendants of this country’s first inhabitants say Government has slighted them in its 2011 census campaign and are calling on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to rectify this oversight. Rabina Shar, spokesman for the organisation, First Nations of Trinidad and Tobago, has penned a letter to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar registering concern over the state’s exclusion of the aboriginal people in the national census.

“The census does not say Amerindian people so it has left us out completely from the entitlement of the lands. “Generally we feel that as people of the first nation and considering that this is first nation year (in the United Nations) we feel it is time that we are recognised,” Shar said. He said it seemed history was repeating itself because the aboriginals also were ignored and in addition were treated callously by the European settlers.

“We are the first nation and everybody come late. We want to be respected by all in society,” Shar said.

On Sunday, members of various aboriginal tribes, including the elders of south western peninsular, the Carib Queen’s grandson of Arima, Waroa/Warahoon people from Siparia and Erin, gathered at San Fernando Hill, Circular Road, San Fernando, to discuss the census and formally launch the First Nations of T&T organisation.

At this meeting it was agreed that the organisation would approach the Prime Minister with its concerns.

The First Nations, Shar said, was the first people of a country, people who inhabited the land before it was settled. Apart from having the Amerindians recognised by the state in the national census, Shar said, the organisation was seeking entitlement to its holy grounds. “The San Fernando Hill, which we call Nabarima, is the sanctuary of Haburi, our progenitor or the first one from where life sprang.

“We believe he fled Venezuela and came to Nabarima (the Spirit of the Waves) for protection from the Shaman Wauta. It is a scared place to us. We want access to do our rituals,” he said. “We have been living here for the past 7,000 years. We want to organise and approach the Government for recognition and lay claim to scared sites,” Shar said.