APPARENTLY a new event has been introduced in the observance of October as Creole Heritage Month called Creole Jouvert.
J’ouvert is an early morning jump-up session held in the streets, with a heavy emphasis on music.
However, with Kwéyòl J’ouvert, the emphasis will be on songs sung in the Creole . This event, the first for the Grande Riviere Development Committee, which is hosting it in collaboration with the Gros Islet Cultural Development Council, is scheduled for October 3 and has been dubbed ‘Jouve Kwéyòl’.
Hilary La Force, Executive Director of the Folk Research Centre, said that in his many years as a creole activist, he cannot recall the staging of a creole J’ouvert to herald the start such an event included on the cultural calendar.
The event will commence from 4:00 a.m. at the Corinth Secondary School parking lot and culminates at the Grande Riviere Playing Field where an exciting and scrumptious creole breakfast party awaits, with entertainment continuing until 10:00 a.m.
“There will be entertainment from our local artistes which will be enhanced with pulsating rhythms of sweet Kwéyòl music complimented by the aesthetics of Kwéyòl drummers and masqueraders,” organizers said.
The supposedly new creole entertainment package comes with a cost of $60 per ticket, organizers.
The climax of the month is the now established Jounen Kweyol which takes place in four communities, namely Choiseul, Belle Vue, Jacmel and Gros Islet slated for Sunday, October 29.
Jounen Kwéyòl is described as St. Lucia’s biggest cultural festival and is a widely celebrated cultural event. Barring any major natural disaster, the country will be celebrating Creole Heritage Month /Jounen Kwéyòl for the 32nd time. The continuous celebration of the event, which began in 1984 in Mon Repos was affected only once in 2010 with the passage of Hurricane Tomas.
Jounen Kwéyol, the brainchild of the Folk Research Centre, is celebrated in recognition of Jounen Kwéyòl Entonnasyonnal (International Creole Day) which is observed on October 28 each year.
Jounen Kwéyòl was formed with the aim of making the St. Lucian society aware of the strength and value of the Kwéyòl language and to assist in the understanding and development of its rich cultural resources.