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By Roger Broomes

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Krisstina Wise Interviews Fernando Flores

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RedPill Lifestyle Management & Consulting

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Self Evaluation for Caribbean Civilization

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Festival: Carnival

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The Story Behind the Crop Over Festival
The present day Crop Over Festival is a uniquely Barbadian festival that emerged out of the tensions in the meeting and merging of the island's British and West African heritage. In ancient times, when several societies were predominately agrarian, cultures the world-over patterned their daily lives including agricultural practice in extremely complex and scientific ways that related in specific ways to their spiritual world-views.

The Yam Festivals of the peoples of Nigeria and Ghana, the point of origin of the majority of Barbadian descendants, are well-known examples of this. While agricultural and spiritual customs among the different ethnic groups such as Igbo, Ewe, Ga and Akan from the two countries varied - as they did across the African continent - one of the living cultural practices they shared was veneration of the ancestors at the end of one harvest season and the beginning of another.

Most Africans believe that such festivals help them forge close bondage with their ancestors and ask for their protection and continued blessings. Festivals are also held in order to purify the whole state so that people can enter the New Year with confidence and hope. In the British Isles, the celebration of Harvest Home marked the end of the reaping of grain, the main sustenance for all. It was later replaced by the Harvest Festival introduced by the prominence of the Anglican Church in the mid-nineteenth century.

The little evidence we have of early 'crop over' celebrations in Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean are written accounts by plantation owners in their diaries and financial ledgers and the journaling of British travel writers documenting their experiences as they move through the region. Researchers tell us that one of the earliest accounts given was in 1798 by the manager of the Newton Plantation in the parish of Christ Church where he reported that on culmination of the sugar cane harvest he would assemble the enslaved and give them "a dinner and sober dance." It has also been noted that the plantation feasts and dances organised by the Planters were only one type of celebration that took place at the end of the crop. Investigations into the cultural practices of labourers during that time reveal that Enslaved Africans organised their own fetes and dances in their own free time. Some writers believe during such moments of revelry slave rebellions were secretly planned; others argue that Africans used these leisure spaces to commune and connect with Ancestral spirits.

The early Crop Over celebrations were not centralised and took place on individual plantations or groups of plantations, where activities were concentrated in the mill yard. The very last loads of cane to be harvested were brought into the mill yard, the nucleus of animal-drawn carts. These were decorated with branches and flowers, such as the hibiscus, bougainvillea and oleander; the canes were tied down with bright coloured cloth.

The first carts were usually led by a woman in a white dress and elaborate white head-tie, with a bright flower tucked into it. After this came the other carts, accompanied by the various workers associated with the sugar crop, all carrying final loads of canes.

The very last cart carried 'Mr. Harding' an effigy made of cane trash stuffed into an old pair of trousers and a coat, with a top hat on its head. After Emancipation Mr. Harding symbolised that period between sugar crops, when employment was difficult to obtain and money was scarce. This time was referred to as 'hard time' - the crop time and the hard time divided the Barbadian year, in the same way that spring, summer, autumn and winter divided the year in countries with temperate climate. A Bajan might be a sugar curer in crop time and a carpenter in hard times. The procession entered the mill yard and made two or three circuits of the yard so that the enthusiastic crowd could get a great view of the beautiful decorations and the workers themselves.

As the procession stopped, an old and respected labourer stepped forward to the waiting plantation owner or manager, the day's host. With exaggerated solemnity, the labourer thanked the host on behalf of the other revellers, after a similarly exaggerated reply, known today in the folk tradition as speechifying, the festivities started.

Food was very important on the day's agenda. The plantation provided a number of animals to be slaughtered, so that there was meat in abundance, made into stews, pudding and souse and roast pork. There were fragrant pots of peas and rice, as well as coconut bread and pone, and in more recent times, large supplies of salt bread to provide corned beef, cheese, ham and salt fish cutters. * For the non-Barbadian reader, pone is a type of bread made with cassava and a 'cutter' is a salted loaf cut down the middle with a filling.

There were also cassava 'hats' a roughly made bread of the residue of cassava from which the starch had been extracted. All these dishes were 'washed down' with copious amounts of liquid both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Swank was a favourite, made from cane liquor diluted with water, fancy molasses, mauby, coconut water, rum and falernum - a very sweet alcoholic beverage.

And then there was the music! Here the Tuk Band played a very active role, with its accompanying troupe of folk characters: 'shaggy bear' - a man dressed in an outfit made of plantain shags or sheaves; the 'mother sally' - another man dressed up like a woman with exaggerated bosom and buttocks; the 'donkey man' - who danced in a donkey costume with four legs, but which, in silhouette, looked like a man riding a two-legged animal; the 'tilt-man (later called stilt-man) known as moko jumbies in other territories- who walked and danced on slim elevated posts. Researchers believe the origins of these folk characters are deeply rooted in African ancestral worship and that some aspects, such as costume and the aesthetics of their performance survived the trans-Atlantic crossing. Along with the music, there was also much singing; many of those survive to this day as traditional folk songs. The lyrics were witty, the tunes rhythmic and many were composed on the spot.

There is no folk festival without dance and many dances were created over the years, but unfortunately, many of these dances have been lost because the steps were forgotten or not passed on to the younger generation. Two of the most popular ones were Joe and Johnny and Belly to Belly, both entailing highly suggestive movements, perhaps making them the precursor to the much debated 'wukking up' of the present era. There were also Quadrilles, Mazurkas, the Chigga-Foot Dance, Congalala, Four Points of the Mill, Treadmill Dance, Grand Change, Bluka-Foot Dance, Four-Cart Fessy, Four Knee Polka and the Catadonia.

The captive audience was also thrilled by other competitions, for example: catching the greased pig, where the prize was the greased pig. Another game of skill involved climbing a greased pole, which carried the prize - a sum of money at the very top of the pole. Such competitions were practical at the time, as celebrations were very centralised, so that patrons were never far from home. Very popular too was the art of stilt-walking, either in the form of competition or demonstration, which featured the stilt-walkers stripping to their underwear during the performance.

Side attractions were but another element of the Crop Over Festival in those days. There were Barrel Dancers, who danced about 'wearing wooden barrels with the tops and bottoms removed; hand walkers-acrobatic men walking around on their hands with their feet in the air and the ever popular stick-licking competitions.

In addition to the Tuk Band, other bands cropped up, employing a wide variety of standard instruments, like the flute, fiddle, banjo, mandolin guitar, and a number of percussion instruments - bongo and conga drums, bottles containing water, small calabashes filled with seeds called shak-shaks and even two bones held together in one's hand.

The grand finale of the festivities was the burning of Mr. Harding - this straw effigy, symbolises the fervent hope that the hard times to come would not be very severe.

The Crop Over festival as previously described dwindled around the 1940's but did not die out entirely. After the Second World War there was a decline in the sugar industry and several of the plantations folded. This coupled with managers' and owners' reticence to invest in such extravagant festivities led to such a decline that many believe it had disappeared completely. However, oral testimonies from respondents who participated in the National Cultural Foundation's Crop Over Oral History Project as well as other research projects conducted reveal that plantation crop over celebrations continued to take place during the 40s, 50s, 60s and indeed after the state's involvement in 1974.

It is thought that in an effort to fill the void left by the absence of the Crop Over Festival, the Junior Chamber of Commerce - the Jaycees began to stage an annual carnival at Kensington Oval. This ran from 1958 until 1964. The event comprised float parades, masquerade bands, calypso contests and beauty pageants. This Trinidadian type carnival did not gain much popularity and was soon abandoned.

The Yoruba Foundation under the direction of Elton 'Elombe' Mottley, came up with the idea of reviving Crop Over. However, it did not receive the necessary support and approval from the Government; the concept was eventually taken up by the Board of Tourism, now the Barbados Tourism Authority in 1974.

The Tourist Board's Crop Over planning committee was headed by Julian Marryshaw, Carol Cadogan and Emile Straker. The idea was to create an event that would attract tourists to the island during a time referred to in the industry as the 'Slow Season'.

These early Crop Over events encompassed plantation fairs, beauty pageants, barge shows in the Careenage, featuring local, regional and international artistes. The late Bajan calypsonian the Mighty Dragon real name Edrick Jordan insisted that calypso be included on the Crop Over programme, and so a competition was started, the first of which was won by the Mighty Destroyer - Keith Christian in 1974.

The responsibility of producing Crop Over was later handed to the Ministry of Culture then headed by Nigel Harper and subsequently Elton 'Elombe' Mottley. In 1983 the National Cultural Foundation was established and has been conceptualising and producing the festival ever since. Over the years the Crop Over Festival has evolved significantly into the grand spectacle that it is today; some traditions have been lost; some new ones have emerged and some have been transformed. In 2014 it is spread over a period of eight weeks and is considered a major financial stimulus in the country generating some $80 million in economic activity throughout all tiers of the society.

-based on articles written for the National Cultural Foundation by John Gilmore (1988) and Addinton Forde (1998).

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The Story Behind the Crop Over Festival The present day Crop Over Festival is a uniquely Barbadian festival that emerged out of the tensions in the meeting and merging of the island's British and West African heritage.

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4. Self-evaluation of learning for the semester.

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4. Self-evaluation of learning for the semester.

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-Expectations -Experience -Did any of our views/understanding of the Caribbean or the course change?

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Mighty Sparrow - Tribute To The Grandmaster Kitch

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A Musical Tribute To Lord Kitchener. 1993 Love In The Cemetery My Pussin Sugar Bum Bum

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Trinidadian

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If you want to be happy and live a king's life, never make a pretty woman your wife! Words of wisdom from the Lion! Excellent original version from 1934.. Enjoy!

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Karma Nai ft Keith Currency & New Starzz

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DECYPHA is Barbados' 1st ever cypher series, featuring the best in the island's Hip Hop. This premier video features the femcees of the island - ladies first!

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Caribbean Integration Featuring Young Thinkers

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Caribbean Integration Featuring Young Thinkers

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CARIBBEAN INTEGRATION  ft. Young Thinkers (A Way Forward) Pt. 1 -

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The first part of a disruptive conversation by young thinkers, this conversation has been divided due to it's length. They discuss the importance of diversifying the economy, agriculture and most importantly Caribbean Integration to achieve sustainable development goals.

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A blog about diversity management and inclusion, cultural intelligence, and diversity and popular culture

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Self-evaluation of learning for the semester, Caribbean Civilisation Course.

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Dovini Chell: Self-evaluation of learning for the Semester, Caribbean Civilisation.

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Thursday, October 12, 2016: Jamaica starts coordinating help for Haiti.

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Caribbean American Weekly | Caribbean News

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SANTIAGO, Chile (CMC) - Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have indicated a willingness to work with China regarding the socio-economic development of the 15-member grouping. Foreign ministers of the nine CARICOM countries which recognise Beijing met with their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the side-lines of the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) that ended here on Monday.

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The Gleaner: Insularity Hindering Regional Unity.

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The Gleaner: Insularity Hindering Regional Unity.

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MORE THAN 50 years after the dissolution of the West Indies Federation, a regional political union that lasted from January 3, 1958 to May 31, 1962, insularity remains a major obstacle to achieving any real semblance of political or economic unity among Caribbean states.

This, according to Owen Arthur, former prime minister of Barbados, is true, notwithstanding the signing of the original Treaty of Chaguaramas on July 4, 1973, establishing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) as a regional bloc, and which was followed by the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

"The Caribbean has paid a tremendous price for insular nationalism, and the difficulty in bringing the Caribbean together in a single market and a single economy is that (upon being) granted independence, all of us have become either Barbadians or Jamaicans or whatever else," Arthur told a Gleaner Editors' Forum yesterday. "On the fundamental matters where we have to give up sovereignty to pool it in support of a bigger common good, there is the greatest unwillingness to do

so, and in the case of the currency, there is a vanity about it in some respects."

Arthur spoke about the failed attempts to agree on basic things as a common currency such as exists among members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States as one of the hindrances to achieving any real economic gains at the regional level.

He told the forum: "It took Europe from 1957 to 1992 to create the single market. Doing the same thing, it took us from 1989 to 2006, but, believe me, it involved a lot of heavy lifting to move from where it was originally to where you could have a single market. Having created the single market, then the reason was to move to single economy because a market is only a place where goods and services are sold, and in 2007, we met in Barbados and laid out a road map to move from the market to an economy - a virtual economy really."

However, to date no real gains have been made in the area of regional integration despite the long-standing agreements on paper, according to the former Barbadian prime minister.

"Caribbean integration is an uphill process, and they have put it on pause and it has not come out of pause. It has stayed in paralysis, and that is reality," he insisted.

resounding victory

The expressed aim of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single regional bloc.

The referendum called on September 19, 1961 to decide whether Jamaica should remain in or pull out of the Federation resulted in a resounding victory for the Alexander Bustamante-led Jamaica Labour Party with a 35,000-vote majority. The vote by Jamaica, the largest island in the English-speaking Caribbean, sounded the death knell for the short-lived political union and triggered a scathing response from Sir Grantley Adams of Barbados, who was upset that Britain had allowed Jamaica to have its way.

"The influence of Jamaica on the minds of the British government is almost paramount, compared with the rest of the West Indies. There are so many Englishmen who think of Jamaica as the whole of the West Indies, and I think that the British government is doing the same."

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MORE THAN 50 years after the dissolution of the West Indies Federation, a regional political union that lasted from January 3, 1958 to May 31, 1962, insularity remains a major obstacle to achieving any real semblance of political or economic unity...

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Rice and Beans with stew chicken, fried plantain and potatoe salad.

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Caribbean diversity relates to the variety of ethnic groups that  exist within the Caribbean society. Their presence can be attributed to the introduction of colonialism, slavery and migration into the Caribbean region.

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Rihanna - Umbrella (Orange Version) (Official Music Video) ft. JAY-Z

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Imran Khan Press Conference News Headlines Today

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Barbados' National Dish Cou cou and Flying Fish

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Barbados' National Dish Cou cou and Flying Fish

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Trinidad & Tobago Carnival 2016 (Parade) | Carnival Life [ NH PRODUCTIONS TT & TRINI GOODFELLAS ]

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The People will always determine whether or not Carnival is Epic, and 2016 proved no exception to the awesomeness that is TRINIDAD & TOBAGO Carnival Trinidad & Tobago Carnival Parade 2016 | Carnival Life [ NH PRODUCTIONS TT & TRINI GOODFELLAS ] Have a brief look into the highlights of the Greatest Show on Earth and relive the memories created for what we are calling THE CARNIVAL LIFE 2016 ( Trinidad & Tobago Parade of The Bands ) NOW AVAILABLE on Full Length DVD & Bluray ( with BONUS Features ).

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Barbados cropover 2016 - Baje International

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Barbados cropover festival - baje international kadooment band In 1996, Baje - an entertainment group based in Barbados - first hit the local market with their crazy summer parties. 3 years later, Baje International Kadooment band was launched for Crop Over 1999.

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Belize City Carnival

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Belize City comes to life during the country's September Celebrations in observance of Independence Day. A highlight of the celebrations is the Carnival Parade that showcases color, sounds and high spirits of the jubilant people of Belize. It is a party like no other and one not to miss out on.

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What is a problem of regional importance as reflected in the news current affairs literature or programs in the region ?

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How do we understand the social or geographical environment in the Caribbean. How does the Carnival festival in the Caribbean region, namely Belize, Trinidad and Barbados relate to the theme 'Cultural Diversity,' in the Caribbean Civilisation course.

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Activity 6.3: Three ways in which the Caribbean identity is shaped by US imperialism to this day. For each of the three ways you have identified give a brief explaination