Schools kick start National Heritage Month with annual Festival

The streets of Kingstown were on Tuesday March 5, 2024 resplendent in the colours gold, white and black as students from various Primary and Secondary schools across the nation marched from the Bishop’s College Kingstown hard court to Victoria Park. Donned in their Garifuna colours they gathered to commence National Heroes month activities with the staging of the annual Schools Garifuna Festival under the theme ‘Children of Chatoyer, Fruits of our Heritage’.

Students gathered at Bishop’s College Kingstown’s hard court

At Victoria Park they showcased their talents in dance, poems, songs, chants and modelling, in homage to the Garifuna ancestry, despite periods of rain during the day.

The event also featured a historical exhibition that displaying an array of Garifuna-themed and antique pieces.

Delivering opening remarks was the president of the Garifuna Heritage Foundation(GHF), David ‘Darkie’ Williams, who spoke on the progressive work of the Foundation which he said, tends to struggle in getting their message across.

“I feel particularly honoured to be part of an organisation who struggles to make people aware that this culture means something to the psyche of St Vincent [and the Grenadines].

“…that awareness has blossomed into what we just witnessed a while ago,” in particular reference to students of the Fancy Government School who sang the national anthem “in a language that is authentically and genuinely Vincentian,” the Garifuna tongue.

However, Williams said that “there’s a long way to go”. That “other programmes such as this one will come around, and I hope you will remember what you saw here this morning and support whatever [else] may emerge.”

Also making remarks, c-ordinator of the Festival from the Ministry of Culture, Claydonna Peters, said “activities such as this is one way of inculcating the preservation of such[Garifuna Heritage] amongst our people, especially the youths”.

Students of the Dorsethire Hill Government School doing a folk dance.

And, the representative from the Ministry of Education, Nashakie Samuel in her remarks encouraged the students to see the day’s activities as an opportunity to develop self-confidence through their talents, fostering national pride across schools and communities.”

“In addition, the activities are geared towards increasing knowledge of the local history of St Vincent and the Grenadines particularly, Joseph Chatoyer and the Garifuna,” she added.

Samuel thanked the teachers for preparing the students for the day, acknowledging that she is aware of the deficiency in the area of the Social Sciences in the teaching of the Garifuna culture, as it is in this area where students develop knowledge about their “environment, culture and the event and all that is happening around them”.

She emphasised, “We must teach them and encourage them early in their lives about these things so that they would grow and develop in their historical awareness and appreciation.”

March is celebrated as National Heroes and Heritage Month, and a range of activities and events are being held in acknowledgement of the work of Paramount Carib Chief, Joseph Chatoyer, this country’s National Hero, the Garifuna Culture and its wider implications, and the traditional and historical elements that contribute to the Vincentian way of life.