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Trinidad and Tobago: Burning Rawan

Categories: Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago, Arts & Culture, Ethnicity & Race, Religion

Ramleela, a folk theatre version of the Ramayan performed by Trinidadian Hindus each year in the weeks before Divali, traditionally ends with the burning of the effigy of the villainous Rawan. Mani of The Manicou Report visits the final night of Ramleela [1] in a nearby village, and is worried by the liberal use of gasoline to set the effigy alight.