The contemporary governments in Trinidad have utilized Hosay as a marketing tool for their tourism industry (Korom, 122). They understand the popularity and the festivity of the event and they have specifically reached out to the urban locale of St. James in northern Trinidad which has one of the most popular Hosay festivals (124). We continue to see the multiple ways of interpreting the Hosay festival. Although one cannot deny that it differs more from the Iranian and Indian versions of commemorating Muharram than the Iranian and Indian variations differ between themselves, it nonetheless is an inheritor of a tradition that is dynamic and adapts to indigenous lands for religious and cultural survival. We can see how the ideas of a Shi’ite ideology are perpetuated and reconstructed, sometimes unconsciously, by observing the comments of some non-Muslims who are zealous participants or advocates of Hosay:


“one member of the conservative, and separatist, Hindu Sabha told anthropologist Gustav Thaiss a few years ago that Hosay is a ritual to remember the conflict between Hasan (a Muslim) and Hosayn (a Hindu), and that they ‘died together battling over their Faiths. People now make the tajdahs to commemorate their deaths,’ he said, and to ‘show we should all live in unity together’” (Korom, 83)

Korom also writes about a Hindu questioned about his involvement in Hosay:

“When one of the main organizers of the event in southern Trinidad was asked if he saw a contradiction in being a Hindu who participated in the Muslim rite and believed in its power, he simply responded, “I presume I am a Muslim one month each year”. Such religious oscillation reflects the amalgam of many different cultural influences that have gone into making Hosay what it is in Trinidad” (124)
Although many Shi’ite Muslims argue that what these participants of Hosay practice is heresy, one cannot deny that the tradition is part of a longer history of the cultural adaptation of religion which creates a “popular religion”. Indian practices during Muharram such as walking over fire are often questioned by non-Indian Shi’ites in the same manner and many wonder if this is not excessive or even haraam. Conversely, many Shi’ites in the subcontinent do not accept the dramatization of Karbala in Iranian taziyehs because of their adherence to a strict interpretation of the ‘no depiction’ notion in Islamic law. Thus, we must understand the universality of the processes that created the distinctly Caribbean Shi’ite festival called Hosay. Korom writes in his epilogue about Shi’ite missionaries who have newly arrived to Trinidad to teach the Shi’ites there a more globally accepted notion of Shi’ism. This has already created rifts between the black Afro-Creole Shi’ite communities who adhere to a more orthodox Shiism and embrace the Shi’ite mission’s message and the East Indian Shi’ite community that adheres to the traditions of Hosay and the distinctive legacy of that history. The only rule governing all these processes is a dynamic process of global exchange. What one must not forget to do is engage in a dialogue rather than an authoritarian monologue which can draw people away from faith by creating a reaction to foreign impositions. The legacy of cultural adaptation that took place in Iran and India must also be allowed to foster in the Caribbean.



Bibliography

Korom, Frank, J. Hosay Trinidad: Muharram Performances in an Indo-Caribbean Diaspora. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.

Prashad, Vijay. Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.