T&T’s Hispanic connection

What do sancoche, parang and the Castillian waltz have in common? Besides forming part of the present T&T culture, they were all introduced to the country by Spanish settlers many centuries ago.

The government initiative to implement Spanish As the First Foreign Language (SAFFL) of T&T requires an understanding of the various cultures behind the language itself. However, this is not limited to merely learning about our Spanish-speaking neighbours in Latin America and the Caribbean, or the country where the language originated, Spain.

Without even leaving the shores of our beautiful twin-island republic, a look at the history behind current aspects of our own culture provides an impressive link directly to the Spanish conquistadors who came to our shores centuries ago.

Perhaps the most obvious example of the Hispanic influence on our culture is seen, or better said heard, in our music. At Christmas, the popular parang that is heard is a reflection of this influence.

In her book Parang of Trinidad, Daphne Pawan Taylor writes that “parang is a term which identifies a custom belonging to Trinidad’s Hispanic heritage.”

The word parang is neither Spanish nor English. It was actually created from the word parran, a colloquialism of the Spanish word parranda, meaning “out partying.” In fact, the word parrandero that we use to describe parang revellers is an authentic Spanish word which means “party lover.”

As far as the actual music is concerned, its origin is debatable. One theory is that the music was introduced by the Spanish during their occupation of Trinidad between 1498 and 1797.

It then evolved after being influenced by the social environment of the island and its neighbour, Venezuela.

Another theory is that during the same period parang came to Trinidad from Spain via Venezuela, as a result of the good relationship between Trinidadians and Venezuelans.

Parang normally starts in the last week in November and can be heard all through the Christmas season until the Día de los Reyes or Day of the Kings, which marks the end of Christmas celebrations in Spain. Popular areas in Trinidad associated with parang include Lopinot, Paramin, Rio Claro and Arima.

Closely associated with music is dance, an area upon which our Hispanic ancestors also left their mark. For example, the Castillian waltz is a slow, stately Spanish dance that is popular during the Christmas season in T&T. It is a tradition in parang music and is normally danced by senior citizens to the tune of a song called Clara.

In addition, the Spanish-speaking migrants who moved from Caura to Lopinot introduced the English maypole dance in the 1950s using the name sebucan. This involves a tall pole to which 14 brightly coloured ribbons are attached at the top.

Equal numbers of boys and girls, all beautifully dressed, each hold a ribbon as they form a circle around the pole. When the music begins, normally provided by cuatros, guitars, maracas, and singing in Spanish, the children start dancing. As they dance, they moved in and out around each other and around the pole. The end result would be neatly plaited ribbons covering the entire pole.

Visitors to places with a strong Hispanic or Amerindian past, like Lopinot and Arima, should be able to catch a glimpse of children dancing the maypole in the month of May, or during the Santa Rosa festivities in Arima.

The Roman Catholic religion is another aspect of our culture and society that our Hispanic forefathers also influenced. Apart from the religion itself, the Velorio de Cruz (or Vieux Croix) is a religious tradition that was introduced to our culture by the Spanish-speaking settlers of the past.

Although it means “wake of (the) cross,” it has nothing to do with death and as Archibald Chauharjasingh explains in his book Lopinot in History, it “must not be confused with the wake-night vigil over a corpse before burial.”

The Velorio de Cruz is actually a prayer-and-praise session devoted to a particular saint or deity.

In times of difficulty, a person may see the need to ask either a saint or deity for assistance and may make a promise to pray to this saint or deity if their problems are solved. A Velorio de Cruz is then arranged when this promise is made and it is a ritual that has to be maintained annually on the day that the first ritual was performed.

Normally a tiered-altar is prepared a day or two before the ceremony by the person or persons involved, either an individual performing the ceremony for himself or herself, or as the head of their household. The altar is often decorated with flowers and at the top is the most important piece of the entire ceremony, the cross.

On the day of the ceremony itself, musicians and singers gather to start the ceremony at six o’clock sharp. They sing the galleron and sometimes traditional folk Catholic hymns.

The galleron is the highlight of the Velorio de Cruz and is accompanied by the playing of guitars, cuatros, bandols, tipples and maracas. The music stops at midnight to allow the head of the home to offer the prayers. Then coffee is served and the music resumes until the time comes to remove the cross.

The ceremony to remove the cross involves precise timing. It usually begins at 4 am when the head of the household begins to slowly move the cross down the tiers, while the singing and prayers continue.

This process lasts until 5.55 am when the cross is removed completely from the altar. The head of the house then takes the cross outside and is followed by attendants in a sort of procession, after which the altar is dismantled. At 6 am the solemnity stops, and music and dancing fill the air.

Another key area where the Hispanics left their mark is in the gastronomy of T&T. This goes far beyond the use of Spanish names for certain foods like carambola, sapodilla and granadilla. Popular foods like cassava bread, sancocho or sancoche, and pastelles all have a Hispanic history.

Cassava bread is really a thin, flat disc of cooked cassava that can be eaten with butter or cheese. Sancoche is a stew usually containing pickled meat, dumplings and various provisions like plantains, sweet potatoes and green figs.

Pastelle, the Christmas food of the country, is basically a boiled corn pie filled with meat and wrapped in singed banana leaves.

The Spanish people, who were one of the original inhabitants of our country, left us a lot more than Spanish surnames like Mendez, Rivas and Gomes, and place names like San Juan, El Dorado and Sangre Grande. They left us a beautiful culture with many aspects that are inherently Hispanic.

For more information about the Spanish As the First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative, please contact the Secretariat for the Implementation of Spanish

(a division of the Ministry of Trade and Industry) at 624-8329/627-9513 or fax us at 623-0365