Happy Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day!

(photo courtesy the Trinidad Express)

It's a holiday in sweet T&T! Have I told you why I love this place? Oh, that's right. I have.

Today is Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day, a holiday celebrated only in T&T which commemorates the day that those of the faith were finally allowed to worship in peace (61 years ago). As with most of my discoveries about local history, I was surprised to learn how recently such a freedom had been granted. Not to mention how recently it was recognized as a significant historical event (just 16 years ago). These occasional reminders of the nation's relative youth help to temper my impatience with the place - for a while, anyway. Still, the contrasts between the development of a society intended for long-term colonization and one meant strictly for the production of resources is sometimes jarring. There's a lot of make-it-up-as-we-go-along going on here and I suspect that it's at the root of the much of the ad hoc nature of things.

On the bright side, today also marks the first of 3 consecutive short weeks, so YAY! I intend to celebrate this holiday like I do most others; reading, writing and maybe I'll find a movie to mock- I mean, watch. There isn't much else to do since everything except KFC shuts all the way down on a holiday. No worries, though, I started Catching Fire last night and - just as with The Hunger Games - any time spent not reading the novel is occupied with ruminations of what's going to happen next. Yes, I'm obsessed with a novel meant for Young Adults. No, I'm not the least bit bothered by that. Still hoping to catch the movie this weekend; with all of the buzz, I'm hoping I'll be lucky enough to grab tickets.

Well, I'm off. Happy Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day to my local readers and to those based abroad: I'll do an extra special bit of lazing about for you. :)