Spectators revel in culture, patriotism at Independence parade

Trinidad and To­ba­go’s 64th In­de­pen­dence Day cel­e­bra­tions came alive with the sights, sounds and en­er­gy of the na­tion’s cul­tur­al her­itage, as Red Dev­ils, Moko Jumbies, tas­sa drum­mers, chut­ney dancers, Jab Jab, a Chi­nese cul­tur­al troupe and steel­pan brought a car­ni­val-like at­mos­phere to the mil­i­tary pa­rade.

The colour­ful cul­tur­al show­case was one of two ma­jor ad­di­tions to this year’s In­de­pen­dence Day mil­i­tary pa­rade and dis­play, which made its re­turn af­ter last year’s event was can­celled due to na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty con­cerns. The oth­er was a change in venue that drew mixed re­ac­tions from spec­ta­tors.

The tra­di­tion­al mil­i­tary dis­play, usu­al­ly staged near the North and Grand Stands of the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, was moved to the north­ern end of the Sa­van­nah op­po­site Pres­i­dent’s House. The cul­tur­al show­case fol­lowed the uni­formed con­tin­gents along the pa­rade route.