|
|
|
 |
|
Conflicting emotions
6/27/2009
This week the Minister of Education, Ronald Jones, added his voice to the growing chorus of social commentators, media persons and officials connected with the Festival who are less than enthusiastic about this year’s offering for Crop Over, and with the way the Festival is going in general. Commentator and Principal of the Garrison Secondary School, Matthew Farley, said recently that Crop Over was a “disaster” which should be halted temporarily in order to evaluate its goals and purpose.
The Minster hinted that the modern Festival seems to portray the ‘seedy’ side of our culture and concurred with Farley’s conclusion concerning the immorality associated with the country’s premier Festival. It would be easy for a casual onlooker to get the impression that Crop Over is in some sort of crisis.
The question is whether such statements reflect true problems of the Festival or are merely a function of the unique relationship we as a people have with our premier national Festival. Our relationship to this event has always been complicated and schizophrenic, springing from the unique circumstances of its creation.
History
In recent years, many party songs written and produced in Barbados, intended for use in Crop Over, have had the word “Carnival” as the central theme. Purists will tell you that this is incorrect as Crop Over and Carnival are not truly synonymous.
Crop Over, on the other hand, clearly has different antecedents. The original Crop Over was the traditional harvest home festival celebrated at the end of the sugar cane harvest, based on similar festivals held in the British Isles. This Festival would have been celebrated towards the end of June when the final canes were harvested. The ceremonial delivery of the last canes recalls the time when the Festival celebrated the most important thing in the country – the sugar cane crop.
Modern Crop Over is a revival of this festival, intended not to celebrate sugar, but as a corollary to our main business in modern times: tourism. It was created to fill a niche, to create an attraction during the summer months when visitor numbers usually drop. So far it has been very successful in its intended mission – Crop Over is a major tourist attraction.
However, this success does not change one fact – unlike the Carnival celebrations of the rest of the region, which have been celebrated and enjoyed by generations of people, across all socio-economic backgrounds, Crop Over is not ingrained in our social make-up in that way. It is still too new a Festival; many Barbadians are actually older than the modern Crop Over Festival. While older Bajans may remember the significance of the harvest home festivals celebrated at the end of the sugar crop, that festival bears little resemblance to the modern masquerade event.
This disparity is the most likely cause of the conflicting attitudes we have to the Festival. We are proud that people come from all over the world to experience the Festival, yet we complain about the noise and disruption of the Cavalcades and other events. We complain that it seems to be driven by profit considerations, but are highly critical if the NCF reports that the Festival has made less money than expected. We are proud that the music of Crop Over quickly becomes the soundtrack to other regional festivals, but complain about lewd lyrics and dancing.
We honestly seem to expect that the Festival will have only benefits and no downsides at all.
In other parts of the region, these issues are rarely considered. For them, Carnival is part of them; they will enjoy it regardless of discussions about judging rules for calypso competitions or over the length the jump route. Whether Barbadians will ever feel that way about Crop Over is a question only time can answer.
Email
us your comments. | Top
|
|
|
|
|
