Declaring that the Crop Over Festival is more than about partying, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has called on all Barbadians to embrace the true meaning of the festival.
She issued the call recently, while addressing the Digicel Ceremonial Delivery of the Last Canes and 50th Anniversary Tent in National Heroes Square, The City.
Ms. Mottley, who dubbed herself as “a child of Crop Over” given her involvement in various aspects of the festival over the years, traced the origins of the festival, which date back to enslavement when the African ancestors had to find ways to celebrate the end of the harvest.
The Prime Minister insisted: “Whatever else we do and wherever else this festival goes, we must never ever forget where it started, and why it started and how it started. We give thanks today that 50 years ago, even if for reasons that were not necessarily rooted in the right place to be an attraction for visitors coming as tourists, we ended up in the right place in building the spirit and reinforcing the identity of Bajan people. This festival is us; this is who we are.”
She continued: “Along the way, we have meandered and changed and added to the point where there is a generation of Barbadians who do not know life before Crop Over…. For them, life before Crop Over, as you heard earlier on this stage, was inconceivable.”
The Prime Minister reminded the audience that Crop Over was more than carnival and the onus was on Barbadians to ensure that it remained anchored in our history and the story of Barbados.
“That is why we don’t celebrate only in terms of fetes or jump-up. That is why having Spiritual Baptists integrated in this festival to give thanks in an image and with a group that no longer has to hide and be prosecuted but simply to praise their God in the land of their birth,” she emphasised.
Ms. Mottley urged the youth to put away the weapons, keep the peace, and embrace the festival. “Our country, and our country means that we don’t only have the right to enjoy it; we don’t only have the right to celebrate in Crop Over, but we have the obligation to tell who want to get out here and mash up things by shooting guns and doing other things, ‘not ’bout here’.
“Your family and your friends and your community deserve better than to be threatened by a handful of people in this country,” the Prime Minister maintained.
During the proceedings, there were addresses from Chairman of the National Cultural Foundation, Dr. Jasmine Babb, and Chief Executive Officer of Digicel, Natalie Abrahams.
Presentations were also made to outstanding sugar workers. They are Storekeeper at the Agricultural Business Company Limited, Dite Best, General Worker at Barbados Farms Limited, Dorcas Sam, and Track Operator at the Agricultural Business Company Limited, Junior Franklin.
Crop Over Stalwarts Awards were presented to Charles Ashby, John Sealy, Alison Gittens; Davie Leslie; G. Addington Forde; Merville Lynch; Merle Niles; Jennifer Sealy; Chetwin Stewart; Al Gilkes; Dorsie Boyce and Nigel Harper.
Prior to the start of the official ceremony, Bridgetown was transformed to a sea of colour and merriment as a street parade with 300 participants meandered its way from Pelican to National Heroes Square.
Shoppers paused their activity to watch the modern Mother Sallys, the decorated cart parade, shaggy bears, green monkeys, tuk band, and Zouave Band.