UNLIKE with climate change, there is no such variability in the Christmas season, a universal season of hope, peace, joy and love, initiated by Christians but enjoyed by near everyone, says President Paula-Mae Weekes.
In her annual Christmas message to the country, Weekes offered sentiments of hope, particularly for those who are without everyday necessities during the season.
"Climate change is a hot topic, pardon the pun, in local, regional and international fora.
"We lament the deleterious effect that natural phenomena and human action have had on our planet, making environments inhospitable, causing cataclysmic weather events and adversely affecting the sustainability of countries, in particular small island states," said Weekes.
"The rhythms and seasons of nature have become ad hoc and disordered and predictability seems to be a thing of the past.
"We scramble to forecast meteorological conditions and are forced to find ways to mitigate and deal with the vagaries of climactic tendencies. Certitude of seasons appears to be ancient history."
But, she added, "There is no such variability in the Christmas season when Christians world-wide remember and celebrate the birth of the Messiah.
"(While Christmas has) a special and specific meaning for the Christian faithful, these seasons can be tapped into, assimilated and enjoyed by everyone.
"Sadly, Christmas is not an unqualified time of celebration and rejoicing for all our citizens ... For many, it is difficult and can even be deeply distressing.
"The contrast between a season of celebration and a season of want and despair is particularly poignant."
But, there is hope, Weekes said, which "does not obviate the existence of our trials and tribulations, but gives us the strength to keep going, fortified by the knowledge that, as the old Persian adage states, 'This too shall pass'.
"An important aspect of hope is waiting patiently for what we do not have, even as we do all within our power to improve our situation, refusing to be defeated by present circumstances, and pressing confidently toward a better outcome.
"Hope anchors us, redirecting our gaze from the immediate issues and troubles of the world to a vision of peace and goodwill to all men."
Weekes said it may seem counter-intuitive "to expect a season of peace when living in a climate of peril and insecurity – the alarming and appalling murder rate, recent devastating flooding, and the sky-rocketing cost of living are among the things which, if allowed, can surely disturb or displace any feeling of peace."
In spite of external factors, we can experience a peace that comes from within, she said.
"Such peace allows us to keep focussed on and work our plans and accomplish our goals even as we exert energy and effort to deal with challenges and hindrances.
"It is the ability to maintain a state of harmony, tranquillity, serenity and calm amid the tumult of daily life."
Weekes said, "One can practise prayer, mindfulness, meditation, yoga or even deep breathing in an attempt to be internally unmoved and undaunted when confronted by the vicissitudes of life. It might need to be a daily discipline in order to be successful."
While many families across the nation will be without "trappings of Christmas" or even bare necessities, she said, one may wonder how they can be joyful in this setting.
"There is no easy answer. However, the generosity of benefactors, the presence and camaraderie of friends and family, the sharing of whatever little one has and the comfort of faith are all potential sources of joy.
It may take an active search, and a deep dive, phrases not usually associated with joy, to unlock that state of being, but it is not impossible."
A season of love is the easiest for all to embrace, she said.
"The precious and priceless gifts of compassion, empathy, patience, presence and a listening ear are all demonstrations of love at no cost. We can give these valuable gifts freely at Christmas and at every other opportunity all year through."
Whatever our situation, Weekes said, we can feel and demonstrate love to those nearest and dearest and can extend it to those outside of our immediate circle.
"We are not often called upon to give such sacrificial love, although the heroic acts of many of our citizens, often at great personal risk are apt demonstrations of this divine principle.
"In this Christmas season let us love each other freely, extravagantly, deeply and unconditionally, and may the seasons of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love continue long after the twelve days of Christmas are over."
Weekes' Christmas message may be her last as President as Government has given notice that the Electoral College will convene in January to elect a Head of State. Official sources report that Weekes will not serve a second term. (Source: Newsday, Dec 25, 2022)

by Patricia Bissessar
Today, Christmas treats have become sordid affairs of sometimes dubious motives, but those who were educated in the primary schools of several decades ago still cherish memories of the joy felt at the bestowing of small gifts which meant so much. I was fortunate to work at three primary schools during my teaching career which spanned 43 years. In each of these schools one being a Presbyterian School and the other two Government Primary Schools all students were exposed to the cultural history behind all religious and National holidays including Christmas . In fact I am pleased to report that the teaching of the significance and traditions of celebrations such as Christmas are included as part of the Primary School’s Social Studies curriculum programme at all levels.
I was first introduced to “Christmas Treat Tradition “when I began my teaching career in 1972. My siblings and I attended the St. Christopher’s Anglican School where at the end of the year each class had their own Christmas Party. I remembered how challenging it was for my mother to organize 100 items for myself and two other siblings to carry for our Christmas Party. You see the thing with individual class party is that each child selects one item on a list prepared by the class that his or her parents has to sponsor . Whatever, the party snack, the parent has to send at least one for each child. If like me you had two other siblings and a father working for a low income as a County Council worker in those days you would realize the strain on the family’s budget . But nevertheless my mother always came through since the easiest thing for her to prepare for all three of us to take to our Christmas Party was cupcakes. There were instances when this did not always work as planned. One year I had to carry cheese paste sandwiches, my sister cupcakes and my brother Rudolph soft drink. I am not sure how my mother managed but she made sure we all had our bag of goodies to take along with us to the class parties. The class teacher would always be the one to bring the traditional ice cream pail and mixture to make ice cream. Children had fun chipping the ice with an ice pick, and turning the pail. We found it a magical experience seeing the liquid mixture turn into yummy ice –cream. When the ice cream was ready children would line up with their little enamel cups or plastic glass they brought with them from home and the teacher would proceed to turn the pail. It happened one year that the aluminium pail got a whole at the bottom and that year we had salty ice cream. Some class parties turned out better than others depending on the socio economic status of students in the respective classes. I remembered one teacher remarking to the other teacher that despite carefully planning the party in advance on the day the majority of parents sent popcorn so there was no variety in treats for children to enjoy. It was only when I reflect that I realized that in larger families maybe popcorn was the only affordable item for the parent to make to ensure each child had something to contribute to his or her Class Christmas Party.
I began my teaching career on 13th September , 1972 at age 17. Luckily for me it was Christmas Term. At Erin Road Presbyterian the Principal Mr Seesaran was a man although he had no children of his own tried his best with the help of his teachers to ensure every child in the school experienced the magic of Christmas . Christmas Treat for the entire school. For the teachers at Erin Road Presbyterian School, this meant preparing for the event in advance.Funding came from the Christmas Frolic or School Bazaar held annually. Preparing the budget for the Christmas Treat was left up to the School Treasurer and the Principal, but at a staff meeting all teachers would have an input as to what would go into a treat bag for each child. An apple was a must , since many homes could not afford to buy apples for the Christmas season. All items for the treat bag would be purchased a few days before the last day of school and stored in the Principal’s Office which was the only room that was secured . On the day of the treat tubs cut from barrels filled with ice would be used to keep the soft drinks cold. The school would order large blocks of ice from the ice truck to fill the half barrels. The Std 2 classroom which was the one nearest to the Principal’s Office was transformed into a make shift room for packing the 300+ treat bags. It reminded me of a factory . Bags opened the first teacher would place the apple and pass on the bag to the other teacher to put what was in the box in front of her and the bag kept passing from hand to hand until filled closed and packed in a box with name of class written and number of students in each class. A little tic tok toy, a whistle and a balloon was included in each bag.
On the day of the Christmas Treat all children came to school dressed in party clothes and could bring a borad game to play with their friends.While bags were being packed the designated teachers would take charge of the School’s Christmas Concert. One of our most cherished school tradition was the annual Nativity play which took centre stage each year. The scene that remains imprinted on my mind during my early years as a teacher is the tiny faces at recess time peering into the BRC wire frame in the Std 2 classroom ( classes had no windows) trying to see the different goodies that were being packed into their treat bags.
After lunch all students would reassemble into their respective classes and the treat bags would be distributed. By now you would probably guess which item would be eaten first. The Principal never forgot his teachers who all worked hard to raise funds at the school bazaar for the Christmas Treat. As a special bonus each teacher also was given a treat bag with ten apples , one pound of grapes , a Cadbury chocolate , a small cake he usually bought and a few soft drinks . Whatever remained after the packing of the children’s treat bags would be divided up and place in the bags of teachers who had young children or young siblings. So as teachers we too looked forward to our treat bags. After , training college I was reassigned to the same school , but although under new administration the tradition continued. In the 1980s a new addition was made , a visit by Santa Claus bringing gifts for all. This was something all children looked forward to throughout the year. Sometimes two or three teachers would be given the day off to go the week before the treat to travel to Port of Spain to purchase toys for all children in the school . I was always among this bunch =since the heads of each department of the school were usually the ones entrusted with this task. This was quite exhausting since we had to make a number of stops at various whole sale stores looking for toys to suit our budget, but I had fun.
For quite a number of years my home became the storage area for toys and treat items as our school population began to grow. My brother would often remind me of those days and how the entire house smelt like apples . My mother was the one who sponsored the Santa’s Outfit and past student Ezekiel Mathura was the designated resident Santa Claus at Erin Road Presbyterian until I left for another position in 2004.
Christmas at Erin Road Presbyterian during the 33 years I spend there as a teacher was always a special time for students and teachers to celebrate together. It was important for us to create happy memories of Christmas for children to look back on when they’re adults, and we hope those memories remain etched in their minds forever.
Look out for part 2 to find out about how Christmas was celebrated in two Government Primary Schools. (Source: Angelo Bissessarsingh Virtual Museum of TT, Dec 23, 2022)

rime Minister Dr Keith Rowley urged citizens to continue to have faith and be strong in the face of adversity, as he issued well wishes for the Christmas season. 
In a statement, Dr Rowley called on Trinidadians to "find a quiet moment" to reflect and to share kindness with each other. 
He also said a "small but dangerous minority" continues to "spread sorrow" across Trinidad and Tobago:
"Fellow Citizens, I am moved, with deep emotions today, as I bring Christmas Greetings 2022 on behalf of the Government of our Republic, my family, and myself, as Prime Minister.
"My greetings, I expect, will meet most of you in the customary spirit of joy, merriment, and goodwill of the season, and for this, we in Trinidad and Tobago – given recent worldwide events -- must be eternally grateful to the Almighty. Let us continue to preserve and share the spirit of Christmas even as a small but dangerous minority has acted and continues to spread sorrow across our land."
"Earlier this month at the “National Service of Reflection and Thanksgiving”, I noted that many citizens have suffered the loss of loved ones, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some were affected by the recent floods, and current economic difficulties and many families are forced to carry deep hurts, maybe for the rest of their lives, due the upheaval in violent murders and other crimes."
"I sought then to comfort those despairing at the moment, appealing to them to keep their Faith in God -- however, they may see Him -- with the reminder that in great darkness, there is always dawn to be had."
"In the Christian faith, we hold that for believers, all things are possible; we can overcome all obstacles and tragedies, once we are with Jesus Christ, because his Grace is always with us, and it strengthens our lives."
"Let us continue to have faith and continue to be strong in the face of adversity as we celebrate."
"The merriment apart, I want to take my appeal further to all citizens to pause on this day. Let us all, personally, the law-abiding and the lawless, find a quiet moment, within the celebrations to stop the music, hold the drinks, the ham, the black cake, the ponche-a-creme, etc. and reflect on the meaning of this day- if only for the moment.
"Let us then remind yourselves, what are we celebrating?
"Christmas Day is a real Spiritual moment in our existence. It is all about a Messenger, a Teacher, a Wisdom Master, who came to man, some two thousand years ago, with a message that the “Kingdom of Heaven is within us”, teaching love, healing, and forgiveness, asking that we transform our lives, that we outgrow human darkness, our selfishness, our egocentricities and consciously seek to liberate ourselves to a higher level.
"Fill your hearts instead, he said, with the energies of love and compassion and “love your neighbour as yourself” because your neighbour, your fellow man, is within you."
Dr Rowley appealed to citizens to stop self-destructive behaviours and to ask for strength and clarity.
"As if Christ was looking at us today, he said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Taken literally this statement may cause hurt, particularly if one is mourning the loss of immediate family, friend or just another member of our community. The illegal guns kill with a loud report, and the after-effects kill silently even in the season of love, Christmas."
"I appeal to citizens to say that silent prayer; no matter how brief, have that quiet moment, away from the distractions. Pray that we rid ourselves of our self-destructive behaviours, which now may appear to be out of control. Ask God to rid us of those strangers to the spirit of Christmas, those repressed, shadow personalities. Ask for His strength and clarity which will help us to confront and change those amongst us who will kill and those who have useful information but casually allow the pain to flow."
"This is a season of tremendous anxiety and one in which every citizen should be seeking an inner peace with God. John 14: tells us, “If You ask anything in My Name, I will do it.”"
"This then is my Christmas wish – that we all say a Silent Prayer individually and maybe collectively towards the coming of that dawn that is at hand in which we will be reminded every day that “Tolerance” of each other is one of our national watchwords. Let there be caring, let there be peace, safety, and merriment."
"Best Christmas wishes to everyone. May we all have a holy, safe, and enjoyable Christmas Season, from my family to yours." (Source: The Loop, Dec 25, 2022)

UWI Open Campus is celebrating its alumna Alyssa Mohammed, who has won the 2023 Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship.
A media release from the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and principal of the UWI Open Campus said Mohammed outperformed ten candidates from across the Caribbean.
Mohammed, a TT national, graduated in 2022 with a BSc in sociology with first-class honours. She is currently doing a postgraduate diploma in gender and development studies at UWI, St Augustine. Said to be passionate about gender equity, Mohammed hopes to work to advance the position of women in the Caribbean.
She said, “I have a long history of working for and volunteering with local nonprofit women's organisations, especially Muslim women's organisations, and I am very passionate about improving the gender inequality situation at home and at large."
She hopes to study the MSc in sociology or the MPhil in sociology and demography at Oxford. She will take up her scholarship at the university in October 2023, and will be among a cohort of over 100 global scholars doing fully sponsored postgraduate studies.
She said, "I hope (it) will allow me to look at gender issues on a macro scale...the interconnections between gender and other institutions and social processes in society.
She hoped it will allow her "to make a tenable gender impact, especially in the areas of sexual health and reproductive rights and agency.”
Gary Asselberg, Mohammed’s teacher at Open Campus, and coach for the Rhodes Scholarship interview, hoped all Open Campus students follow her path to learning.
That path, he said, "is the ability to grasp core concepts in one context and then apply that knowledge in an unrelated context to produce a fresh and exciting explanation of how things are and why. Her ability for transference is a talent that is difficult to teach, yet Alyssa did learn, and so can you.
"She intuitively understood the concept of confirming negatives, that a failed investigation has the potential to bring us closer to the truth.
"These character traits are a prerequisite if one is to thrive under the spotlight as a young leader for gender issues in the Caribbean.”
Pro vice-chancellor and principal at Open Campus Dr Francis Severin was delighted by the news.
He said, “Alyssa’s accomplishment in this rigorous and competitive Rhodes Scholarship, underscores the critical importance of the Open Campus, its mission of empowering the hitherto under-served in the Caribbean, and unequivocally proves that those who do not see the value of the Open Campus beyond the ‘conventional’ towns and cities, are tragically misguided and deluded.
"Alyssa Mohammed bears incontrovertible witness to our tremendous value. Well done!”
The release said the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and most prestigious international scholarship programme. The Rhodes Scholar is chosen based on stringent criteria, including academic achievement, personal energy, a desire to make a difference and the capacity to collaborate with others to accomplish one's goals.
(Source: Newsday, Nicholas Maraj, Nov 18, 2022)

The sea is eroding the coastline.  Very sad to see  (Source:  Zando Ruthless, Nov 21, 2022 on Angelo Bissessarsingh Virtual Museum of Trinidad & Tobago). 

​Did you know that the * CUARTRO " is the National Musical Instrument of Venezuela?
My sister Rosemarie’s favourite musical instrument when she was alive was the cuatro. In fact on our very first trip to Margarita she bought herself an authentic Venezuelan Cuartro which she became quite versatile in playing .It was her cuatro hanging on her bedroom wall and the photo of little Angelo playing his cuatro at age four which inspired me write this article.
The predecessor of the Venezuelan cuatro was the four-string Spanish renaissance guitar which was brought to South America by the Spanish conquerors. From the guitars brought to the New World by the Spanish "conquistadores"emerged the 4-stringed cuatro invented in Venezuela in the early 19th century .Since then the cuatro has become Venezuela's national instrument, lending its distinctively highly pitched sound to every style of music such as the joropo, castellan and merengue.
This four string musical instrument found its way to Trinidad in late 1800s when hundreds of peons from neighbouring Venezuela were brought to Trinidad to serve as seasonal workers on our cocoa estates. These Venezuelans brought with them several Spanish traditions one of which was Parang Music.
The term Paring is derived from the Spanish word parranda, which means a spree or a fête. Initially it meant a group of four or more men who went to give a parranda at an event - a christening or a birthday celebration.
At Christmas Time the parranda navideña, group would go from house to house entertaining members of the communities such as Paramin, Lopinot, and Arima where they settled. These visits involved singing while strumming their cuatros and dancing as a form of celebration of the birth of the Christ child. The traditional lyrics of parang which was sung in Spanish were mainly Religious and Christian songs.
Today Parang music, mixed with a calypso flavour has found itself deeply rooted in the culture and landscape of Trinidad and Tobago.
While the cuatro continues to be the prominent musical instrument used by Parang Bands,, over the years other musical instruments have been added to the mix resulting in a whole new revolution to parang music.
(Source: Patricia Bissessar, Angelo Bissessarsingh Virtual Museum of T&T, Nov 9, 2022)

​STEP INTO MY PARLOUR : THE EARLY BEGINNINGS
- Taken from Historian Angelo Bissessarsingh Archives.
James Cummings, in his seminal work on The Barrack-Yard Dwellers’ said "for the people of the barrack-yards, the sun just HAD to rise tomorrow". By this he meant that decades of economic penury in the post-emancipation urban space, leading up to the massive slum clearance exercises of the 1950s, had made the dwellers of the poorer parts of the Port-of-Spain, masters of coping with poverty. In the areas of Queen St. and Charlotte and Quarry St. where the barrack-yards proliferated, there were the occasional wooden cottages owned by more 'respectable' coloured persons, Venezuelan refugees fleeing political unrest, and white persons of reduced means. Many of these people would be on the verge of not knowing where tomorrow's bread would come from. One coping strategy was to open a small 'one door' shop in the front premises of one's house.
This could be in the porch or as a wooden extension. The stateroom in the front a house is commonly called a parlour. Since these makeshift shops often occupied the aforementioned space, the enterprises themselves became known as parlours. Few if any Trinidadians are aware that this was how these vital community establishments came to be called thus. The parlour, in urban and rural areas, became a focal point of social interaction where people, young and old , could meet and exchange the latest gossip.
Parlours of yore were places where the fare was manufactured almost entirely by local hands and where simple treats meant so much. They were tenuous businesses where tiny profit margins made their proprietorship more a community service than a get rich quick enterprise. For children of yesteryear, there could be few pleasanter places. Large glass jars would be filled with sugar-coated paradise plums, kaisa balls, tangy tamarind balls, molasses-dripping toolum, pink sugar cake and paw-paw balls. A huge block of ice, delivered by a cart in the early morning, would be resting on a piece of sacking, swaddled in straw to keep it from melting too quickly. This ice of course, would be vigorously shaved, rammed into a metal cup and then covered in sweet, red syrup for a penny, and for another copper, laced with condensed milk to result in that much-relished treat, snowball.
Outside of the city and in the countryside, there were parlours too, mostly run by “celestials with pig-tails and thick-soled shoes grinning behind cedar counters, among stores of Bryant's safety matches, Huntley and Palmer's biscuits, and Allsopp's pale ale”…………this according to Charles Kingsley, writing in 1870 about a Chinese parlour in the deep countryside.
The country parlour often was the oasis of rural travelers according to one account from 1914:
“Restaurants are rare in the West Indies, except in the principal towns, but it is generally possible to obtain something of a simple kind, which on this occasion consisted of that nice aerated drink called kola, together with buns from a stall at the entrance of the same shop.”
So then, this is the origin of the parlour, a small-business model which still thrives today.
First photo :Very early (1908) photo of a parlour in east Port-of-Spain, where the business model developed. In addition to jars of pickles and sweets, this little wayside emporium also sells a variety of fruit and vegetables
Second Photo : Typical Village Parlour in Trinidad.
(Source: Angelo Bissessarsingh Virtual Museum of T&T, Nov 26, 2022)

In November, the Holy Name Convent Secondary School in Port of Spain celebrates 120 years since its founding!
According to archival records, Holy Name Convent traces its history back to November 1902, when a volcanic eruption of Mount Peleé in Martinique (Photo 3) led to the arrival in Trinidad of an orphaned Martiniquan child, Leonie Marie Raynaud, who the French Dominican nuns in Trinidad decided to care for.
These nuns had first arrived in Trinidad on March 26th, 1898 to manage patients at the Leprosarium which was located in Cocorite at that time, before its relocation to Chacachacare in May 1922.
Upon their arrival, they lived at the “Maison Bolivar College” (Photo 1) which consisted of a convent and small chapel around the Queen’s Park Savannah, next to the Colonial Hospital. This location was eventually renamed “Holy Name Convent” in 1889. Here, the nuns began their private tutoring of the Martiniquan child, Leonie Raynaud, which soon got the attention of parents in Port of Spain.
These parents petitioned the nuns to provide a French education to their daughters, and consequently, a private school named “Holy Name Convent School” was formed next to the convent in a building named “Pavillon Notre Dame”. Over the years, the high standard of education offered by the school led the government to award it the certificate of “Approved Secondary School” on June 27th 1949 (Photo 2) followed by the status of “Government Assisted Secondary School” in 1957.
The foundations for the school as it is today were laid in the late-1930s by former principals Sister Jeanne Emmanuel and Sister Bernadette Robert. In 1954, the Notre Dame building was replaced with the “Marian Hall” - named after the fact that 1954 was a “Marian Year” in the Catholic calendar - while the Northern and Southern wings were also constructed. They also started the annual Christmas Bazaars in 1946 to raise funds for the school, which lent to the reputation of Holy Name as being one of “self-help, dedication and hard work”.
To commemorate this milestone, the Holy Name Convent Past Pupils Association is having a reunion event, “An Evening of Light” on November 26th!
Photo 1 showing the original buildings of Holy Name Convent and its Chapel (right) is courtesy of the book, “Called to Serve” by author and archivist Sister Marie Thérèse Rétout. This book is part of the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago Reference Collection.
Photo 2 is courtesy of the Port of Spain Gazette Newspaper, June 28th 1949 and Photo 3 is courtesy of the Catholic News, December 12th 1902. These newspapers are part of the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago Newspaper Collection.
References: “Echoes of Mount Pelee.” The Catholic News, 12 Dec. 1902.
“Holy Name Approved For ‘A’ Certificate.” The Port of Spain Gazette, 28 June 1949.
Rétout, Marie Thérèse. Called to Serve: A History of the Dominican Sisters in Trinidad & Tobago, 1868-1988: Congregation of Saint Catherine of Siena O.P., Etrépagny, France. Paria Pub. Co., 1988. (Source: National Archives of Trinidad & Tobago, Nov 25, 2022 and the Virtual Museum of T&T)