This is an occasion for new clothes and a big family feast. During observation of Divali, as a form of sacrifice, no meat is prepared. There is a wonderful wide variety of traditional vegetarian dishes which are served on a fresh large green leaves. After the meal, it's an easy cleanup! Some of the dishes are curried channa, aloo (chickpeas and potatoes), pumpkin, mango chutneys and hot sauces. These are all served with roti, a light flat bread (similiar to pita) which is used to wrap around the curried vegetables with your fingers.
We left the marina on a series of buses and maxi taxis to the village of Felicity in the center of Trinidad in the late afternoon. We were guests of the temple there and enjoyed performances of Indian dance and Tassa drumming.
Click on the square below to be connected to You Tube and see a brief composite of several snippits of the performances from our digital camera.
After the show, we had dinner in the temple hall of traditional divali vegetarian dishes - all delicious and we had fun eating with our fingers on the big leaves. More to come on another blog entry.
