It occurs the last 2 weeks of July.

Tobago Heritage Festival

Sometimes the only authentic glimpses of Caribbean culture that visitors see is at folkloric shows, on market day and through the music played on the radio.

The Tobago Heritage Festival is an exception. For 2 weeks beginning in the middle of July the island celebrates its strongly held heritage through drama, oral traditions and song and dance.

Although tourists are more than welcome to attend the series of themed productions, the annual Tobago Heritage Festival is for the benefit of locals and not for the entertainment of outsiders.

First celebrated in 1987, the Heritage Festival is intended to ensure the continuity of the island's varied cultural traditions that were shaped by African, Amerindian and European influences.

More so than on most islands, Tobago 's heritage remains deeply rooted thanks to the island's relative isolation and its tight-knitted sense of community.

Its strong village orientation is best reflected by how the Heritage Festival is staged: events are held in a different village every day.

The festival covers everything from cradle to the grave. For instance, the Heritage Village of Bethel presents the Rites of Passage that looks at the traditions associated with birth while the village of Whim usually bases its production on the Wake and Bongo, the wakes held at the home of a dead one.

Not all the presentations are as serious. Patience Hill features a Festival of Dance with colorful costumes, while Golden Lane village showcases the courting approaches used many years ago where the suitor had to prove his manhood by chopping a huge section of tree trunk into firewood.

Probably the most popular reenactments is the Ole Time Wedding at Moriah village where more than a hundred participants dress in 18th and 19th century finery to recreate the weddings of a century ago.

As every festival should, this one ends with a bang, the Ole Time Carnival that pulsates with sounds of pan (steelbands) and tamboo bamboo as revelers dance until dawn while masquerading as sailors, robbers, devils and more. Everyone is invited to participate in J'ouvert

For complete information about this year's Heritage Festival schedule and where the events will be held, contact Trinidad and Tobago tourism at 888-595-4TNT or visit www.visittobago.gov.tt/

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