Ponum Dance finale by Funtopia dancers, with Rudolph Davis, Naomi Warsop and Kyro Vanterpool backed by drummers Samy D’Alexis, Helier Coquillas, and Cobra Camara (Robert Luckock photo)
OYSTER POND--The 163rd Emancipation Day ceremony was held at the Belvedere Plantation close to the Oyster Pond road on Wednesday under the theme “Buss Di Chain & Free your … ”. The programme contained speeches, and a medley of poetry, songs and dance.
The event began with the blowing of the conch shell and a spiritual ceremony at the entrance to the Belvedere Plantation that was followed by the audience and dignitaries. This was conducted by Lisandro Suriel and Charisse Piper, to remember the ancestors. Sacred rituals were performed at three different spots with a minute’s silence observed at each spot.
The last stop was at an old Tamarind Tree. “The name Dakar, the capital of Senegal, on the far western tip of Africa, is another name for Tamarind Tree, an Afro-Asian ancestral tree that carries memories all the way from India, to the western tip of Africa, and brought to us here in the Caribbean,” Lisandro explained. “Trees like this are associated with bridges to the ancestors, storing the memories of those who are invisible.”
Following a welcome from emcee Clara Reyes, the St. Martin Song was performed by Benjamin Bell and his Elysian Choir. Bell also gave his version of “Buss Di Chain", the high energy Jouvert Jump-Up song, used as the theme for Emancipation Day.
Reyes acknowledged the presence of the Plantz family for holding this place as “a sacred place in your heart, and for making Belvedere Plantation available to the rest of St. Maarten” (the St. Maarten Government finalised the acquisition last year).
Reyes credited the Culture Department’s Rodney Richardson for coming up with the theme “Buss Di Chain & Free your”…purposely left blank, for the public to make their own interpretations. “We’ve had all sorts of discussions on slavery in the Dutch Kingdom with differing opinions,” reflected Reyes. “It’s always a journey of navigating your own personal journey with what this time in our history means.”
Historian Jean-Marc Augusty from the St. Maarten Museum gave an interesting history of the Belvedere Plantation. It is one of the oldest plantations on the Dutch side dating back to 1726.
“What we see here is just a fraction of the original site,” he disclosed. “There is another section to Belvedere which is the Bishop Hill Plantation, a sugar plantation located to the west, known for having a windmill and cemetery where slaves are buried,” Jean Marc disclosed. “It’s the only well documented cemetery on the Dutch side with 23 identifiable graves. The inventory list of Belvedere plantation recorded 135 enslaved people working on the plantation.”
The history segment was followed by a Tété Lohkay dance performance by the Funtopia Dancers. There were poetry recitals reflecting on emancipation from Faizah, Julie Alcin, and Lorenzo Gomez. Lady Baker then gave a singing performance “Ubuntu.”
Official speeches were given by Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) Melissa Gumbs, Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina, and President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.
Gumbs acknowledged that the Emancipation theme raised questions. “The first part is straightforward. Actual chains were broken on Emancipation Day, shackles fell from wrists and feet, bodies that had been kidnapped and sold were, by law, no longer the property of another human being,” she said.
“But the theme continues. We don’t stop at the physical chains that once bound limbs. We chose to ask a harder question: Bus Di Chain and free your ….what? It is our invitation to the people to decide what freedom, what emancipation means to you and what it should mean to us.
“Will we free our minds, our voices? Will we free our vision of who we are and what we, by extension the generations after us, are permitted to become?”
She continued: “Oppression is never accomplished through physical acts alone. It requires an entire ecosystem around it, one rooted in the corruption of a community. Emancipation was never meant to be remembered as a date. It was meant to become a way of living.”
Said Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina in his speech: “We are reminded that history is not something distant. It surrounds us. It speaks to us. It calls upon us to remember, to learn, and to ensure that the sacrifices of our ancestors are never forgotten.
“This year’s theme reflects not only the chains that were broken in 1863 but also on the chains that may still exist today: chains of poverty, chains of inequality, chains of prejudice and discrimination, chains of hopelessness and division.
“I firmly believe the greatest tribute we can pay to those who came before us is to continue building a country where opportunity is not reserved for a few but accessible to all, a country where diversity is celebrated, where inclusion is practised and where every person feels they belong.”
The ceremony ended with a high-energy Ponum Dance finale and guided tours of the plantation.
