Our Heritage

When one thinks of heritage they think of inheritance, birthright, custom or tradition. Today I 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.

The island heritage is highlighted on St Patricks Day an Irish holiday, commemorating the patron Saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, who converted the Irish to Christianity. Montserrat is the only country outside Ireland that keeps St. Patrick’s Day as a national holiday. It does not have to be St. Patrick’s Day to think about our heritage. Traditions of our Irish past where preserved in the names of places/villages (Corkhill, Kinsale, Carrs Bay), surnames (Daly, Galaway,Sweeny, Harris, OBrien, Allen etc.), food (our national dish; goat water), folk songs, a distinctive passport stamp the shamrock, social graces (never pass someone on the street without speaking to them) and so on. In time we realize that we are living, eating and drinking history every day.

I worked for RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland) while I was in England and was struck by the similarities of the names of villages in Ireland and Montserrat (Kinsale, Cork, Galway etc.) simply coming across these places makes history dance off the pages. I would occasionally visit these Towns and Villages via the World Wide Web. As I become older my curiosity deepens about our ancestors and my quest to make a special effort to literally connect the past to the present expands.

A pressing question remains (as many have asked) where did the first settlers first settle? Presuming it was Carrs Bay; where it was considered a good harbour on the Leeward side of the island and a stones throw away from St. Kitts. Have we come full circle in relocating to the North, especially after the other speculative sites such as Sugar Bay Kinsale are now totally buried and Brisket Bay (Old Road Bay) remains uninhabitable?

Navel String Custom

A ya me barn

A ya me navel string bury

So no come cut no style pan me

Over dey dem plant me coconut tree

A de sweetest water in a de world really

Gel a de pride and joy o de family

Me spirit tek to you

So lets have a drink and be merry my dear Sue

Before sun go down

And bus stop running fu town.

My recollection of where my navel string (umbilical cord) was buried is vague, because it was overshadowed by my eldest brother’s dwarf coconut tree. I can still see the small orange coconuts. The house is on the edge of a hill and the coconut tree is planted below it. Marse Sam always bragged about the day he planted the coconut tree and how he chopped a crapaud (frog) in two and buried it with the navel string. He would say Sal that is why the coconut water so sweet.

It was recorded that “the navel was first used in popular English literature sometime before 1892.” The burying of the navel string is a custom in the Caribbean; it is a symbol of our cultural heritage and it signals an unbreakable connection to the place where we were born. I read an excerpt of  Death and Regeneration of life by Maurice Bloch and Jonathan Parry. Well, needless to say some other cultures take this navel string burying to a whole different level. The Melanesian’s account of this is so eerie I will stop right there. However, I should mention that they believe that the navel string is our connection to the earth.

The real question is how many of us pine away to return to where or navel string was buried/home?

It would also be fascinating to know if the young mothers or fathers are steeped in tradition or they are not concerned about these things. I must confess that I am still perplexed about where to plant my daughter’s navel string. For me burying the navel string has a huge significance; as burying the navel string is pleasantly reminiscent of old times.

a site about Death and Regeneration