Kambule - The Street Procession
August 1 2005, 168 years after that glorious morning our ancestors broke free from the chains of chattel slavery.

Thousands gather in on the Brian Lara Promenade in their finest attire parading in a dignified but celebratory and festive manner through the streets of Port of Spain to the Lidj Yasu Omawale Village energized by the sounds of drums, percussions, calypso and steelband music.

Kambule – Kambule is Kikongo (language of the Congo) for Street Procession. The Kambule pays homage to our African Ancestors, our forefathers, who commemorated the end of slavery by processing through the streets. Reflection points are identified along the way from the Brian Lara Promenade to the Queen’s Park Savannah.

There are three main Kambule points of reflection:

1st Stop - The Treasury Building is the first stop. Slavery was brought to an end in the British West Indies with the Emancipation Bill of 1833. In Trinidad the Emancipation Proclamation was read on August 1st 1834 at the Treasury Building site, but the system of enslavement legally ended on August 01, 1838.

2nd Stop - The procession then moves to Besson Street, which was one of the early settlement areas of the Yorouba people of Africa. After the abolition of slavery, some of the people, mostly Yorouba, left the estate to seek employment as close to the town center as possible. Not being able to actually live or afford accommodation in Port of Spain, they occupied this site which now houses the Police Station and the square.

3rd Stop - All Stars Pan Yard, this pan yard was the site of the 1881 Kambule riots. The colonial military attempted to stop the procession of stick fighters from proceeding along the streets. The stick fighter/kalenda ensemble remained defiant as they gathered together that day in 1881. The military charged with their bayonets expecting them to retreat, but the stick men stood their ground and retaliated with “Bois”! The colonial forces were defeated that day.

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