The year 2013 marks the 376th anniversary of the historic revolt of the Carib Chief of Kairi (Trinidad) Hyarima, against the then Spanish colonizers in the year 1637. The year 2013 also falls within the second International Decade of the Indigenous Peoples that extends from 2005 to 2014.
Since the arrival of the European colonizers and subsequent peoples from various countries and continents, the cultural heritage of the First Peoples has undergone catastrophic changes. Over the last five hundred years, the First Peoples’ Nations across the Caribbean have met with immeasurable hardships and much of their cultural heritage is on the verge of extinction.
To counter this threat of annihilation, the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community is having its week-long Amerindian Heritage celebrations in the month of October, 2013. The aim is to preserve, share and showcase the cultural values, ways of life and traditions of the First Peoples in Trinidad & Tobago, across the Caribbean and North and South America.
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