Photograph: Courtesy MacLean Publishing Limited and Noel Norton
Every year Hosay is observed with a parade of colourful tadjahs in commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussain, the grandson of Mahammad, the prophet of Islam, in the year 680 AD. That fateful day is commonly referred to in Trinidad as the “Hosay Massacre”.
Hosay parades take place in two Shiite communities in Trinidad: St. James in the Western section of Port of Spain and Cedros in the South. The colourful procession in St. James is the largest (five tadjahs) and draws thousands of spectators of all religions every year. The Shiites of St. James spend a considerable amount of time and money in the building of miniature temples (tadjahs, taziyas, hosays, mausoleums) with bamboo, wood, paper and tinsel to depict the tomb of Hussain. These tadjahs range in height from three to ten metres and are carried trhough the streets on parade days accompanied by the beating of tassa drums and two standards in the shape of half-moons, each carried separately on the shoulder of one man at a time. The half-moons (one red and one green) symbolize the deaths of both Hussain and his brother Hassan: red for the blood of Hussain that was shed at Karbala and green for the poisoning of Hassan eleven years earlier. The drums and flags are symbolic of those used in the wars during the seventh century.
Every year the procession follows a set route that is believed to retrace the path that was used for the event when St. James was a plantation during the middle of the nineteenth century: east on the Western Main Road to Serpentine Road, Hayes Street and Queen’s Royal College (Q.R.C.) before returning along the same route. The procession starts early enough to reach the campus of Q.R.C. by 3.30 p.m., the time that Hussain was martyred in Karbala. At Q.R.C. the only publicly visible religious aspect of Hosay is displayed with the reading of the funeral (Genesa) prayer. On the thirteenth day of the Muharram (Teejah Day), the Hosays are hauled to the seaside in Cocorite and broken up.