Next: 1 Aug 2027
Emancipation Day (Caribbean)
African prints, kente and head wraps in red, gold and green, and in Jamaica the red and white plaid of bandana cloth.
The colours of Emancipation Day (Caribbean)
On 1 August 1834 the law abolishing slavery in most of the British Empire came into force, and the day is kept across the English-speaking Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago made it a public holiday in 1985, the first country to do so. People dress to honour their African ancestors: wax-print cloth, kente strips, dashikis and tall head wraps, in strong reds, golds, greens and indigo, with many in white for the dawn ceremonies. In Port of Spain a procession crosses the city with drums. In Jamaica the dress of the day is often bandana, a cotton plaid of red and white, sometimes with yellow, that was worn by working women in the nineteenth century and is now part of the national costume.
#C8202FBandana redThe red and white plaid of Jamaican national dress.#F2B632Kente goldWoven strips worn over the shoulder.#0B7A3BPan-African greenWith red and gold or black, colours of African unity.#FFFFFFCeremony whiteWorn for libations and dawn services.#27306BIndigoWest African resist-dyed cloth.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Emancipation Day" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.