Immerse yourself in a warm, tropical landscape with the melodies of unique instruments and an unforgettable culinary experience.
When thinking of a traditional Christmas holiday getaway, you might not think of the Caribbean’s Trinidad and Tobago. Far from the dominant images of a snowy winter wonderland is a tropical twin-island destination with a robust Christmas spirit. The essence of Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago is more than a celebration—it is an immersive cultural experience. Christmas time here is a gastronomic affair, peppered with parang music, a folk genre that has significantly evolved over time, and an atmosphere that leaves you repeating Susan Macio’s iconic lyrics, “Oh yes! Trini Christmas is d’ best!”
Trinidad’s Answer to Christmas Music
In this English-speaking nation, parang music dominates the airwaves beginning in October, marking the start of the much-anticipated Christmas season. A folk genre with disputed origins, parang is traditionally sung in Spanish against the backdrop of percussions and strings, most popularly the Venezuelan cuatro. Some claim the Spaniards brought the genre during their conquest of the twin island, and others believe it was brought over by Venezuelan migrants who came to work the cocoa plantations in the 1800s. Either way, parang music is a Trinbagonian staple for the holiday season.
Parang music is an integral part of the culture, but perhaps more so in the villages of Paramin and Lopinot, both situated in the hills of the Northern Range of Trinidad. Many Trinbagonians go up the mountains to indulge in parang within these communities, something like a yearly pilgrimage. “We moving from house to house” is often heard, indicating the movement of the parang bands or parranderos in the Christmas season, akin to Christmas carolers in other parts of the world.
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“Many people I’ve met strongly dislike Christmas music, but as a Trini, I love Christmas music because I just think of parang,” says Jessica Julien, a Trinidadian travel creator living in Boston.
Following the 1970s birth of Trinidad and Tobago’s popular soca genre, there was a mixing of the traditional instruments of parang with the upbeat rhythms and lyrics of soca. Now, soca parang and parang soca (yes, there is a difference!) are incredibly popular. These tunes tend to be sung in English. Household staples like Scrunter, Lord Kitchener, Daisy Voisin, and Baron continue to dominate the season.
Many of their songs are love letters to Trinbagonian food and drink. Scrunter’s resonant lyric, “I want a piece of pork for my Christmas,” or Lord Kitchener’s exclamation, “Drink a rum and a poncha crema, it’s Christmas morning!” rings through Trinbagonian homes during the season.
Visitors to the island can experience parang through the National Parang Association of Trinidad and Tobago’s Annual Pan Festival. The association hosts various events, including “parang tents,” a newer addition to the Christmas season. More adventurous visitors can find their way up to the towns of Paramin and Lopinot and experience the lively atmosphere for themselves.
Holiday Feast Traditions in Trinidad
If you’re visiting a Trinbagonian home in December, you will be offered a variety of food and drink, but there is one dish that encompasses Trini Christmas: pastelles. Pastelles are Trinidad and Tobago’s iconic Christmas offering. Like a Mexican tamale or a Venezuelan hallaca, pastelles are made from cornmeal, stuffed with seasoned meat, usually ground beef, and wrapped in a banana leaf. Making pastelles is a labor of love, generally involving multiple family members at various stages of the process. Baidawi Assing of EatAhFood, a website dedicated to Caribbean cuisine, agrees: “Pastelles are synonymous with Christmas in Trinidad as it transcends dietary restrictions; you can use beef, chicken, or vegetables as the filling.”
Baidawi grew up in a Muslim household, yet remembers Christmas being a large part of his childhood. “Christmas [in Trinidad and Tobago] is so cultural, it’s very community and family-oriented,” he says.
Christmas food in Trinidad and Tobago deeply reflects the nation’s history, telling the story of colonization. Trinidad and Tobago was under Spanish rule from 1592 until 1797, when the British overtook it. We see that influence in the food. For those who eat pork, a Christmas ham is a must on a Trinbagonian Christmas table. Glazed with honey mustard and poked thoroughly with cloves, the Christmas ham scent is one that many Trinbagonians associate with Christmas morning.
Baidawi notes this is similar to the Puerto Rican Christmas tradition of pernil, a slow-roasted pork shoulder. Another Latin influence is ponche-de-creme, a milk-based rum drink similar to Puerto Rico’s coquito, specifically seen around Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago.
Other staple foods and drinks include black cake, a fruit-heavy rum cake, stewed pigeon peas, sorrel, and ginger beer. Foreign products such as Danish cookies are incredibly popular, as is Peardrax, a drink from the U.K. that has been discontinued in its country of origin but still shines brightly in Caribbean supermarkets.
While the best culinary experience is always in a Trinbagonian’s home, visitors can go to Freebird Restaurant for brunch to experience a menu with Trinbagonian Christmas staples featuring an inventive modern twist. On their menu, you’ll find deconstructed pastelles and ponche de creme French toast.
Holiday Feast Traditions in Trinidad
Carlene Phillip, a Trinidadian who migrated to the Channel Islands for work, craves the Christmas that she grew up celebrating. “It’s just not the same; the Christmas vibe is just not there,” she says. Carlene and many other Trinibagonians living abroad return home in December for Christmas. An incredibly social season in the twin-island, it is not uncommon for families to paint their homes’ exterior and interior, hang new curtains, and order new furniture.
The Trinbagonian home must be perfect in time for Christmas day. Visitors, both local and from abroad, are often expected to stop by sometime during the season. Customarily, they are offered ham, black cake, sorrel, or any drink with rum. Christmas is the time to catch up with family and friends, offer well wishes and gifts, and, quite frankly, show off your newly decorated home.
It’s usually a time of abundance for Trinbagonian families, which is reflected through food and drink offerings. On Christmas Day itself, families move from house to house, dropping by on family members, bearing gifts, or simply indulging in food and drink. There is a specific kind of generosity expected around Christmas time in Trinidad and Tobago.
Similar to North American and European customs, many Trinbagonians also decorate the exterior of their homes with lights. One common family Christmas activity is driving to the upper-middle class neighborhoods, such as Valsayn, to watch the spectacle of light shows put on by residents. You’ll see Santa, reindeer, and other classic North American Christmas elements.
While Christmas has become largely cultural, Trinbagonians, mostly Catholics, still attend midnight mass. Adorned in their best outfits at midnight on Christmas morning, these churchgoers go to worship, singing classic Christmas hymns.
The spirit continues to Boxing Day, an official public holiday in Trinidad and Tobago. People tend to have limes, the Trinbagonian word for “hanging out.”
“Boxing Day is an extension of Christmas, I grew up seeing my grandmother and aunt prepare food for my grandfather’s Boxing Day lime, where his friends would move from house to house starting in the morning,” says Rakeem Parpit of AvocadoPapii, who writes about the food of Trinidad and Tobago. “For a lot of us, it is usually a day spent with friends after spending Christmas Day with family.”
Some Trinbagonian families head to the beach for Boxing Day. It’s a day to relax and recharge after the Christmas festivities and before heading back to work.
Throughout the year, Trinidad and Tobago offers visitors a rich tapestry of culture, food, a vibrant Carnival celebration, and tropical beaches. However, a Trinbagonian Christmas embodies the twin-island nation’s complicated history, tradition, and a deep sense of community, offering the perfect cultural experience. It is a celebration that welcomes visitors into a world where cultural diversity reigns, illustrating the beauty and strength in history, joy, and unity.