Canboulay

1881 was a year of significance for the newly emancipated Africans in Trinidad and Tobago. In that year, stick fighters, masqueraders and revellers, took on the might of the British colonial administration, symbolized in the figure of the Commissioner of Police, Captain Baker.

The determination of these people to claim their right to express their culture, meant that the Carnival of the people the Canboulay would be allowed to continue and evolve.

For the last three years, Eintou Pearl Springer’s script of Canboulay Riots of 1881, has been used in a re-enactment of the events. The re-enactment, produced by Ms. Springer, is now a much anticipated event on the Carnival calendar. It takes place at the All Stars Pan Yard Duke Street, Port of Spain.

Not contented with scripting, Eintou Pearl Springer also takes full part in the re-enactment event, composing a stick fight lavuay.