26/06/2026
(Part 3) THE HOSAY MASSACRE. Hosay, a colloquial name for the Caribbean incarnation of the Shia Muslim festival of Muharram, is currently underway in the Trinidadian towns of Saint. James and Cedros. While one is in the northern part of the island and the other in the south, both are multi-religious and multi-racial observances. Islamic rites are upheld by Hosay participants, some of whom are Muslim, but many are Hindus and Catholics; Indian and African. It is for this reason that Hosay became such an issue for the British during the indentureship era. Hosay was first commemorated in the town of San Fernando in the 1850s by Indian indentured labourers belonging to Palmiste Estate before spreading across the country. The spectacle, in memory of the solemn martyrdom of Prophet Mohammed’s grandsons Hasan and Hosein, attracted various types of attendants in mass. Grand displays of unity were a major threat to the British colonisers who tried to suppress it. Those tactics contributed to the eventual dissolution of Hosay in Suriname and Guyana by the early 1900s. In Trinidad, tensions between Indians and Africans with overseers and the government resulted in the Hosay Massacre on October 30th, 1884. Also known as the Jahājī Massacre, Coolie Massacre, and Muharram Massacre; it followed a period of unrest in the early 1880s where East Indians were rebelling against the “sardar” or plantation managers. In 1884, the British officially prohibited Hosay. On the day of the incident, police forces were dispatched to stop Hosay participants heading towards San Fernando where the tadjah or taziyā, mausoleum-like structures, would be taken to “sirwāwē” (immerse) in the ocean at King’s Wharf on the western coast. They fired into the crowd at multiple checkpoints on the parade path after the Riot Act was recited by a local magistrate. Attendees scattered with hundreds injured and death toll figures ranged from nine to sixteen to twenty two casualties. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave at Paradise Cemetery close to San Fernando and the ordinance against Hosay was later overturned. The names of the dead include Jaggernath, Gildari, Manoo, Elam Khan, Chaddee, Nabebocus, Dipchan, Moondit, Ramnath, Ameer Khan, Junglee, Chaydar, Abdool Kunia, Ramgolam, Seetal, Chowtonic, Chotah, and Sadarsingh. Some were never identified. Hosay has since dwindled over the years in Trinidad, but continued preservation of the festival is an act of resistance against colonial attempts to erase it entirely.
Sources: Dr. Ken Paramasad. “Report of Sir H.W. Norman Upon The Recent Coolie Disturbances In Trinidad”. Photos sourced from the Michael Goldberg archival collection at the University of the West Indies (UWI Space).
Part 1 - https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17sZwPC3rH/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Part 2 - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Bv5fxBaUn/?mibextid=wwXIfr
