When one thinks of heritage words that come to mind are: inheritance, birthright, custom or tradition. Today our national holiday is a day that we Montserratians cannot help but think of our Irish heritage which dates back to 1630; when the Irish Catholics came from nearby St. Kitts to colonize Montserrat. Other Irish settlers came directly from Ireland and Virgina, USA.
In terms of our heritage we have struggled. In 1768 the slaves tried to free themselves and met with tremendous adversity. The slaves’ efforts to gain freedom will not be forgotten and the spirit of our ancestors still prevails in all Montserratians and as such is the essence and the foundation of our celebration. The parallel is that we the people of Montserrat have today come to terms with the past; as we now struggle with a virulent volcano.
Traditions of our Irish past were preserved in many ways, for example:
Places/villages – such as St. Patrick’s, Rileys Corkhill, Kinsale, Farrells, Banks, Sweeney’s, Estates; Gages Estate, Farrell’s
Estates – Galways, Blakes.
Names of mountains – Reids Hill, Hodges Hill
Shorelines – Carrs Bay, Bransby Point, Trant’s Bay
In our social graces; for example we still never pass someone on the street without speaking to them.
Today we will make a special effort to literally connect the past to the present by serving Irish dishes: stew yard fowl, duckna, salt fish and johnny bakes, mackerel, goat water, pig feet souse, cassava, stewed pigeon peas and dumplings. We will be visiting homes, writing poetry, reconstructing slave huts as we dance with “an infectious syncopating rhythm.” We will be drinking bush tea, wearing our National Dress, exhibiting local arts and crafts, engaging in folk rituals and singing with a spirit of self-determination and celebrating our freedoms. St. Patrick’s Day would not be completed without the ritual dances of the Masquarades. “The Masquarades are the richest expression of African folk art.” Today we honor the past in a new idea is being considered, to dedicate this time of year to heroes and Montserratians who have done great and useful service to the country.
We can still abandon us in our hearts yet we choose to live with Montserrat in our natures. We are living, eating and drinking history every day.
It is the week when Irish descendants everywhere “switch gears” to celebrate the tenth St. Patrick’s Day of the twenty first century. My island of Montserrat with its strong Irish tradition and history and has expanded the commemoration of March 17, 1978 to a week long celebration. Today begins a week long celebration as we observe the efforts of our Irish ancestor’s attempts to gain freedom; that led to the 1768 uprising. Three hundred years on and the spirit of the ancestor’s still lives on and this is echoed throughout the celebration of St. Patrick’s week. “As the wooden shamrock adorns the gable at the Government house many are busy in preparation for the week.” Custom officers are busy stamping the shamrock in many passports. Slave huts are being erected. The national dish goat water is being prepared. Both residents and visitors move to the beats of the bodhran, babla (drums.) The masquerades crack their whips. The mood is cheerful and contagious and we remember our heritage in varied and imaginative ways. Enjoy the video and view the list events scheduled for the week of celebrations.
A few months back I was at a hairdresser and I came across a certain magazine. It was old, tattered written on. Still it seemed as if it called my name. There was a certain beauty about it. I opened it. I thought to myself yes! I felt as if it should be mine because to me it had such a cultural resonance. It was a keepsake. I continued to look at it and I searched for the date but nothing inside gave reference to it. I thought of the phrase my mother often used at home what St Kitts don’t want Nevis glad to get or as others would say one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure. Immediately, I asked if I can keep the magazine and oh boy it had no value until I requested it. I was upset that I could not have it. I even offered to pay for it. She said she did not read it yet, so the answer was no.
That night I could not sleep, I was alive and I wanted that magazine. I tried to reason with myself. I said to myself that it is not mine to have. The next morning I decided to search for the magazine. I made calls to its advertising offices and after being redirected several times I finally found the Editor and requested it. Months come and gone and I was given so many promises that the magazine would arrive. I complained about not getting it to one of my co-workers who urged me to forget about it and to give up. Well it took six months; it seemed like a year, for it to come. The day it came my smile was so wide that you could have counted all my incisors, molars and premolars.
The feature in the magazine that I was so enchanted by was on the subject of roots, starch vegetables, blue food, ground provisions let us cut to the chase hard food man. Oh you should see the dasheen, eddoes, tannia, yam, plantain, green fig, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, toulesmois (tulama), arrowroot and cassava. I can just see the market now. The hard food reminds me of our roots and culture. The dasheen and yam came on the slave ships from West Africa during the sixteenth century. The sweet potato originated from Brazil but was bought to Europe by Christopher Columbus.
Remember the cassava (cusada) bread? Oh mama! Those days I had to peel the cassava, grate it (cut my finger) put it in a flour bag (remember the 100% one hundred pound Caribbean flour from St Vincent White cloth with green and red stripes man)! I had to travel down to Collins Ghaut to Marse Jim which was about a twenty minute walk to put it between the press to extract the juice. After two days we would take it out and put it out to dry. Once it was dried you added salt – then you made that cassava bread. Back then everything seemed so complex; inorganic but looking back now and being able to sum up the process literally, it was organic; coordinated. It was our tradition but there were so many things I never knew until I read this magazine.
I learned that there are two types of cassava; one sweet and the other bitter. The bitter cassava contains prussic acid which is poisonous and needs special and careful preparation; if not extracted it can cause paralysis. So the method used by my grandmother was practiced by the Ameridians so long ago. The length of time used in the press was to get rid of the toxins.
Have you ever tasted any cassava (cusada) bread stuffed in the pig’s intestines? Delicious!
As the writer Eudora Welty once said Events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order the continuous thread of revelation. With time all things are understood.
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