As St. Lucia commences its celebration of the 2025 version of Creole Heritage Month, it is difficult not to think about our cultural heritage and where it fits in today’s St. Lucia.
Jounen Kweyol has grown in popularity over the years and remains a major fixture on the cultural calendar for locals as well as individuals in the diaspora who actually utilize vacation time for this occasion every year.
However, many are convinced that our Jounen Kweyol celebration has not maintained its authenticity and that it has been watered down to now resemble a large annual “block-o.”
The Msgr. Patrick Anthony Folk Research Center may want to disagree especially since they are the architects, not only of the annual Jounen Kweyol celebration in Bell Vue, Vieux Fort and Babonnuae on October 26th, but also the long list of events in both those communities throughout the month of October. While there are 18 events between the two communities, plus some fringe events, experience teaches that the events leading up to Jounen Kweyol will experience participation on the lower side.
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Skipping over to the La Rose Festival celebrations, the evidence that speaks to our ailing culture is pronounced. This year’s celebration was held on the Laborie Playing Field and even with ten community groups, the organizers were only able to use half of the field. Amazingly, the bodies at the event were made up of 90% group members and a few scattered familiar faces including Taiwanese Ambassador Nicole Su, who somehow ended up on stage in a La Rose conga line dance. Another key piece of evidence of this ailing artform was the fact that most of the La Rose music was played from recordings, evidently due to a lack of traditional musicians.
Organizers of these events literally beg sometimes for public participation, which in many cases is seen as the lifeblood of these events and their continued existence.
Then, what about St. Lucia Carnival? While St. Lucia Carnival may have grown in numbers and bands and sponsorship, what has many worried is the seemingly drastic decline in the pageantry department. One particular band dominating the Band of the Year award speaks to that decline, according to some close to the artform.
It is obviously not clear what needs to be done to bolster the participation of St. Lucians in those things that are uniquely and authentically St. Lucian. How do you make Carnival and the La Rose and La Marguerite festivals what they used to be? There is an argument that suggests that these events have evolved and are products of the changing times, particularly in the case of St. Lucia Carnival.
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In the minds of the organizers, especially in the case of the flower festivals, public participation remains the key to the revitalization of their beloved community annual highlights.
