Spiritual Baptist/Shaker Liberation Day

Spiritual Baptist in Trinidad (taken by johnhanscom on Flickr)

Christianity has had its schisms. And beyond the obvious Catholic/Orthodox break, the Avignon Papacy, and the Protestant reformation, we can really break all Christians down into two groups: the somber, reverent Christian, and those who like to make some noise. It was only a matter of time before the somber ones would complain about the noise, and ask them to turn down all the racket.

This is what happened in 1917 in Trinidad and Tobago, with the Spiritual Baptists (who were pejoratively called "Shakers" since they would shake while overtaken by the Holy Spirit). Spiritual Baptism is a syncretic religion which was started in Trinidad, and which combines Christianity with elements of African religions. In 1917, the government passed the Shouters Prohibition Ordinance (read the complete text here, it's not too long), claiming that the reason was because they simply made too much noise and disturbed the peace. Certainly though, another big reason was that the religion had its roots in African traditions, and at the time everything from Africa was looked down upon. The movement was also growing in numbers, and other religious groups didn't like having their numbers siphoned off.

But even still, this prohibition is fairly surprising since Trindiad and Tobago is an incredibly diverse nation. The Spanish, French and later the English all left their imperial stamp on native populations. Black Africans were brought in as slaves and later Indians were brought in to work as indentured servants. As such, Christians make up only about 47% of the population, Hindus 22%, and Muslims about 6%.

After years of struggling for their religious freedom, the prohibition was finally repealed in 1951. Like most Caribbean nations, Trinidad and Tobago has a very high emigration rate, and so the religion has spread out wherever Trinidadians have, throughout the Caribbean, the Americas, and Europe. In 1996, the government of Trinidad and Tobago granted the Spiritual Baptists their own public holiday, in memorial of their struggles for freedom. And I say, today is simply a good day to celebrate freedom of religion for all faiths and creeds, especially if you're going to celebrate with some authentic Trinidadian street food.

Our doubles sandwich

It is a little bit discouraging to know that whenever you're having a meal, chances are someone else is eating better than you are. And chances are that someone is in the Caribbean. From Jamaican Jerk Chicken, to barbecue pork and mofongo in Puerto Rico, this region of the world has a monopoly on fantastic food. Trinidad and Tobago is no exception, so we decided to prepare one of their most famous street foods: the East Indian-inspired doubles sandwich, which consists of two slices of bara (a fried bread), and a curried chickpea filling, often dressed with cucumbers, mango chutney, and hot sauce.

Open sandwich

We more or less followed this recipe from Epicurious.com, only I had to go meet some people so we didn't really have time to let the dough rise. So it didn't turn out exactly like it should have. We also didn't have any mango chutney, but they were nevertheless very good. If you like curry or Indian food, I highly recommend giving this recipe a try. The filling is quick to make and requires few ingredients. You'll just need to leave yourself a little bit more time for the dough to rise than I did. We're going to try experimenting with a way to bake the bread instead of frying it, just so we can be a little bit healthier.

Very tasty, and a little messy

For more information about Spiritual Baptists, check out this article from the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago.