The Carib Resurgence from 1973 to the Present:
An Introductory Outline

Maximilian C. Forte, 1999, 2002, 2006.

By the late 1960s, the Santa Rosa Festival, both in terms of preparation and numbers of participants, was on the decline, in the eyes of a young man by the name of Ricardo Bharath Hernandez. Bharath was then living with his family in Detroit and he felt a constant desire to return to Trinidad, and would do so on regular trips. As Bharath put it, the Santa Rosa Festival remained fixed in his mind, from his childhood days, as an event of major beauty and one that brought a closeness and familial togetherness for the residents of Arima's Calvary Hill, long a residential area for Arima's Carib descendants. Other "proud Arimians" of the 40 to 70 years age group, that I have met also attest, without claiming to be of Carib descent, that this Festival was a happy part of their childhood of which they still have fond memories. At any rate, on his frequent trips home, Bharath noted that this Festival was reaching, as he saw it, miserable depths of disarray, disrepair and even apathy as he recalls it. Whatever he managed to save from his temporary jobs in the US, he would bring back to Trinidad and spend on the upkeep of this Festival. He then felt compelled to return to Trinidad permanently around 1983. Not everyone who was present at the time agrees that the Festival was in the state of disrepair that Bharath perceived, but nevertheless this perception seems to have been one of the factors motivating him to become active and in the process transform the Carib community.
 
Bharath will repeatedly emphasize that the origin of the revival of the Carib community that he has come to lead, was centred exclusively on the Santa Rosa Festival. Indeed, it might be more accurate to say that what he first spearheaded was the formation of a more permanent Santa Rosa Festival committee. Bharath does not disagree with this characterization, noting that he had no knowledge whatsoever in the early 1970s of any Amerindian history, heritage or identity. It was not, then, an Amerindian cultural revival. While he says that he found documentaries on American Indians quite inspiring, during his stay in the United States, what attracted him most is what he saw as their fervent commitment to preserving their traditions. For his own part, Bharath was motivated solely by the drive to revive and rejuvenate a passing tradition, the Santa Rosa Festival, and nothing else at first. With time, however, having long and detailed conversations with elders, probing the past of the people involved in the Santa Rosa Festival and the families of Calvary Hill, Bharath came to learn that so much of what he had taken for granted was "in fact Amerindian in origin". At the very least, what was long held unconsciously became the subject of sustained and conscious attention. Many other adults in Arima that I have interviewed also attest that it was only as they neared their 40's that elder relatives divulged to them that they had Amerindian ancestry. The reason offered for the delay in being told this is that their elders were ashamed of their heritage and wanted the young ones to be "raised proper," not as "primitive and backward people." As Bharath came to rediscover his own Amerindian heritage, his revival efforts would become suitably amplified.

The Recovery of Indigenous Identity
Bharath recognized that in order to revitalize the Santa Rosa Festival there was need for regular meetings between elders and himself as well as need for a more dynamic leader to ensure the upkeep of the Festival and to make representation to the necessary authorities in order to secure assistance for the Caribs in their work for the Festival. Thus it was that Bharath became the new leader, the primary "culture broker." He found that a regular place for meetings was lacking, especially one that all could agree on or find neutral enough (there were personal likes and dislikes between certain individuals). He thus sought land from the Church in Arima for building a meetinghouse. He subsequently began to agitate for space for a communal residential area, especially for the numerous Carib families that had been displaced from Calvary Hill in order to make space for a Catholic secondary school -- they had been promised land in return but had yet to receive any. In response, claiming this was the advice of attorneys, the Archbishop instructed them to form themselves into a limited liability company in order to receive the lands as formal property. This turns out to have not been necessary under the law. However, since Bharath developed a larger vision of a recreated Amerindian community in the passing years, and approached the state for a land grant, it became necessary any way to form a company. In 1976, with the guidance and support of the Ministry of Culture, an attorney, and a local folklorist, Bharath registered the Santa Rosa Carib Community as a limited liability company. Land they received form the Church was quickly occupied by squatters. The state, in turn, could not find land suitable for the needs of the Carib group. It was clear to Bharath that this revival and reorganization was to be a long-term affair and that he was in for "the long haul." This process continues, more than three decades later. In addition, what was first an imposition by the church and the state, elements of the corporate format have lingered on, no longer by necessity but by choice. Hence, Bharath continues to use the title of "President."
 
As an organization, the official Carib Community led by Bharath began to organize aims and goals. The early to late 1970s was a period in which Bharath began to discover the Amerindian history and heritage of this group and its surviving traditions. He was also keenly interested to re-learn lost Amerindian traditions and felt the need to rescue this history from obscurity. Bharath was inspired by reinterpretations of the Amerindian contribution to the "national foundation," and he began to feel that these had to be recognized. The 1970s in Trinidad, with the country led by one of the premiere nationalist intellectuals of the Caribbean, and the society in the grips of momentous upsurges in ethnic consciousness and pride in local history, saw numerous such grass roots revival efforts. This too being a period of vastly increased wealth, with a boom in foreign exchange earnings in the petroleum industry, also greatly advanced local pride and confidence. As a nation-in-the-making, searching for a sense of self and its own native roots, Bharath's efforts should have been well received, and eventually were to a certain (inexpensive) degree.

The main demands of the organization were: recognition as a "legitimate cultural sector," research support, and institutional support, especially funding. Amongst the primary aims of the Carib Community were the preservation and maintenance of surviving traditions (even those traditions that, historically, were for the Amerindians and not by them: i.e., the Santa Rosa Festival and Parang music, a Spanish "folk" music originally developed for the catechism of illiterate Amerindians). However, a new aim also emerged: the "retrieval" and "recovery" of traditions by the Amerindians, including the Island Carib language. This last aim was not only pushed forward by a new and influential member in the group, one who studied about shamanic practices, but was also encouraged by Bharath as an aim that should be pursued via the vehicle of "cultural interchange" between Amerindian communities of the Caribbean. Visions of a future community also began to alter: land is being sought to not only build a "model Amerindian village," but one that could also host visiting delegations of Caribbean Amerindians on a long-term basis.