Harvest or Thanksgiving

Photographed by J Baylor

I am thinking of fancy frocks; crinoline underneath, sash, flower details, floral accents, ribbons in little girls hair, iron combs, girls in their pre-teen years. My mind is thinking of getting ready for harvest Sunday way back then in November.

To me Harvest Festival is one of those special occasions that everything that we wore to church was new. The members of the church brought out their best fruits and ground provisions (sugarcane, bananas, yams, potatoes, oranges, carrots, papaya, dasheen, yams, cassava), to adorn the church from the door to the altar or every corner of the church. We would anxiously wait to go back to church in the afternoon for concert where we would recite our memorized poems about harvest.I recall the instruments would play and the congregation filled the space with spectacular harmony. All were well dressed, well-fed, young, old and everything in between. There was a mysterious expression of awe as all reflected joy and willingness to do our best and give our best. There was an atmosphere of competition with a flare of merriment. We got some of our best cooked meals on harvest Sunday. The food was then sold on Monday morning to raise funds for the church.

In the Bahamas and in other cultures now food is distributed among the poor and senior citizens. Harvest is still with us and whether we call it Harvest or Thanksgiving we should always cherish the memories of this time, but more importantly give God thanks for all he has given and provided for us, not only in material possessions but also in people and experiences.

Going Back to School

This week many children will return to the classroom after a lengthy summer break. Most schools in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas opened last week. In Montserrat we would say ‘their free paper burn,” which means their leisure time was now limited to the rigor of school. In  Montserrat as it with most of the Eastern Caribbean school starts today  the 6^th of September. When I was younger and a child was slow in learning (slow) we would say they went to August school. So, needless to say we did not want to go back to school in August.

Recently, after much debate and an apprehension to enroll my daughter in a certain school, I conceded and registered her at the school. At this point Uncle Gerald would have had a good laugh as he ragged me before now that my daughter would not go to school because I would have to go with her and that was not possible. Monday morning all the children were well clad, every pleat in line, everything was new; uniforms, ,bags, lunch boxes, shoes. The returning students seemed to beam with joy. I must admit I had a different level of respect for the school just walking through. Parents of first time attendees showed up with a  joyful expectancy. Of course for the younger ones (pre-school age) there were in tears they wanted to go back home – they wanted their mothers.

As I entered my child’s class room the teacher was enthusiastic  and had a certain degree of dignity  in her attitude and by the way she carried herself. Later in the evening my three year old daughter came home with a schedule of subjects for each day, something I did not see until I was in High School. Also there were two letters one from her class teacher and the other from her assistant introducing themselves. As I said before I was not sure I would let my daughter attend so I did not attend Parents teacher’s conferences held in June. To my surprise, I learned that her teacher, whose deportment was that of a first time teacher keen to exercise the knowledge she had garnered, was a seasoned teacher of sixteen years. I was taken aback, I breathed a sigh of relief and was reassured then that my child was in capable hands because she took pride in her appearance and strove to develop her field. So far my daughter likes it and now I see why this school has one of the best reputations on the island.

As our children, grandchildren, friend’s children, niece’s, nephew’s, sisters,  brothers, cousins God children return to the classrooms let us support the teachers whom we have entrusted with our children. They too have taken the time to be experts in their fields so that they can groom our children when they are away from us. Let us encourage and support them by putting in those additional hours outside school so that their loads may be a little lighter.

The Transition

When last have you sat down and recounted the days when you thought that your parents were highly unreasonable, judicious, controlling, and rigid? Have you ever as a child remembered those one or two times (maybe more) when you contemplated the possibility you may have been adopted. It could be that you even took it a step further and expressed your hostility in words like “I hate them/you/her/him.” Don’t say that it is only me that thought these things. Now that you are a parent guardian or simply an adult you have come to realize that they were not mercenaries. Their tactics, however misconstrued, were meant to protect, love and care. As a parent looking back I see things in a different way. I now realize that all the parenting I received, with the benefit of hindsight, now all makes sense!

Spasm

Reprimands hit like a ball

Mass defense

Aversion – misapprehension

Field of translation adrift

Images of hidden strangers

Them and us

The struggle

Capricious rituals

Fresh with sour outpour

Their inexplicable beliefs

Beyond reach or comprehension

The common experiences pointless

Now!

The fanaticism of rite and right and wrong

Fluid …

Trimmed with grace plus erudition

The magnificent just war

The sacrificial symbols

Transitioned

Into components of our lives

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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney

I Love You More Than Rainbows

“I Love You More Than Rainbows” when I heard (singer/songwriter) Ryan Bingham say this phrase to his wife at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards my first reaction was that it evokes images of someone who is rare and precious. It is more than a phrase it is a book by Susan E. Crites. My daughter has a similar book by Sam McBratney called “Guess How Much I Love You.” It’s about a hare and his son. He is telling his son he loves him and always will love him.  It is so amazing to think that these animated characters and simple poems can express so much love. Poems can express so clearly our emotions, from sadness to anger, from joy to boredom, we who write know how easy it is to put our minds and souls in text. Yet we also know that no words can ever convey how we truly feel. Maybe we can compare a poem to a snapshot from a black and white camera, and a book based on a poem is like a snapshot taken with high-definition Technicolor clarity. I do love my family more than rainbows and I’m glad that books – however brief can capture that reality so eloquently. This is an excerpt from Susan E. Crites’ book:

I love you more than rainbows and beautiful skies.

I love you more than buttercups and wings of butterflies.

I love you more than ice cream with sprinkles on the top,

Or jumping in the pool with a great big belly flop!