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Hosay – A uniquely Trinidadian experience

Today, Ashura day or the 10th day of the holy month of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic year 1446, the tadjahs created in commemoration for Hosay will be "drowned" in the sea.
In Cedros, where I am, mournful elegies will be sung at dusk just before this immersion, lamenting the deaths of Prophet Mohammed’s (peace be upon him) grandsons, Hassan and Hussein, the first by poisoning, the second in battle.

Hosay has a long history as a passion play and came to the region from Iran and through India.

While there’s much written about this ritual in Trinidad, including on the Muharram massacre or mass murder of participants in the procession of 1884, my current guide is Dr Satnarine Balkaransingh’s forthcoming book, Hosay in the Caribbean: Tadjahs on Wheels (Mobile Mausoleums of Muharram), which brings together decades of research across India, the Caribbean and Trinidad.