HOLIDAYS are sacred to Caribbean people – so much so, that historians and social scientists will agree and argue over whether the extent the obsession is with a day away from work, or true recognition of the reason for the day-off.
But holidays – including Holy Days – are dear to every Caribbean heart, with several examples…
Take Saint Lucia, where December 13 has been a holiday from time immemorial: first as ‘Discovery Day’ (when Columbus was supposed to have seen the island on the Feast of the Patron Saint of the Blind), but reluctantly renamed ‘National Day’ after Columbus’ diaries confirmed he was nowhere near on that day.
It was then referred to ‘National Horseracing Day’, but even though the horseracing died with COVID, December 13 is still a national public holiday without meaning – all of 44 years after Independence.
Just as interesting, the island became Independent on February 22, 1979 – but that date didn’t become a holiday until many years later after a subsequent government decided to dump the ‘Queen’s Birthday’ holiday to belatedly make Independence Day a holiday, like December 13.
Saint Lucia’s holiday anomaly is also toxic with 13 public holidays – and quite a disincentive to investors.
Further, under inherited colonial laws, each independent nation has a ‘quota’ of inherited holidays that come with a British royal seal and cannot be changed easily, resulting in several nations creating their own National Orders.
But in most cases, residual colonial thought dominance still sees most Caribbean societies give more immediate recognition to a ‘Sir’ this or ‘Lady’ that than to a holder of a National Medal of Honor of Distinction of no less equal import.
Likewise, with the matter of agreeing on what holidays to be officially declared public and the ease or difficulty of declaring national holidays across the Caribbean.
Take May Day, observed in most CARICOM member-states on May 1 as a holiday for International Workers Day, but on May 23 in Jamaica and June 19 in Trinidad & Tobago.
And ditto CARICOM Day, observed in most member-states on July 4, except in Guyana, which explains the celebration was always meant to be on ‘the first Monday of every July’ – thus Monday July 3, 2023.
Curious observers have always wondered why the CARICOM Heads would have selected July 4, the US National Independence Day since 1776, as the date to launch the regional grouping, even though it didn’t come into effect that day.
The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which came into effect on August 1, 1973.
But August 1 (like July 4) was also already a holiday: Emancipation Day.
The leaders at the time all had their feet in the same wrong shoe, stuck between island rocks and mainland reefs, having to choose between being accused of encroaching on an American holiday and a British one they grew-up with.
Their choice was to steer clear of August 1, which most citizens have known as an annual holiday all their lives, without caring about what it actually meant.
So, CARICOM nations have observed both the July 4 and August 1 holidays for the past five decades – eating both cakes, without any attempt to put either into proper historical context for the majority citizens of African and Indian Descent whose forebears came on the same ship, through Slavery and Indentureship, to keep the plantations running before and after Abolition and Apprenticeship.
CARICOM has therefore helped perpetuate the August I Emancipation Day myth, while ignoring the United Nations (UN) call – since 1997 — been urging ‘All Member-states’ (including CARICOM and all nations washed by The Caribbean Sea and/or affected by Trans-Atlantic Slavery) to annually observe August 23 as ‘International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition’.
The date was chosen by UNESCO, “to pay tribute to all those who fought for freedom, and to continue teaching about their story and their values.”
Why? Because on the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, “men and women, torn from Africa and sold into slavery, revolted against the slave system in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) to obtain freedom and independence.”
UNESCO insists that the Haiti uprising set forth events that eventually led to the abolition of the slave trade,”, which is why “The Commemoration on that day is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples.”
The success of this August 23 slave rebellion is described by UNESCO as “a deep source of inspiration today for the fight against all forms of servitude, racism, prejudice, racial discrimination and social injustice that are a legacy of slavery.”
UNESCO is actually still hoping for annual August 23 observances every year, by all member-states, “will offer an opportunity for collective consideration of the historic causes, the methods and the consequences of this tragedy, and for an analysis of the interactions to which it has given rise between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.”
The Director General also advised that “every year, on that date,” member-states should “organize activities involving the entire population of their country — and in particular, young people, educators, artists and intellectuals.”
But here again, CARICOM member-states are yet to adopt the 26-year-old UNESCO recommendation to observe the date the UN observes as representing the final act by formerly-enslaved Haitians that led to the eventual universal abolition of Slavery in Europe and the USA.
Not so with the Holy Days, however, each of which is enjoyed – and similarly revered – by all.
Meanwhile, plans for Emancipation Day 2023 observances continue across the region, but with increasing efforts — like in Saint Lucia with its second observance of Emancipation Month this year — encouraging citizens to explore all the angles of Slavery and Abolition, Emancipation, Apprenticeship and Indentureship, including from the standpoints of the apologists for slavery and the enslaved victims whose legally-enforced misery continued long after the many Proclamations of Abolition.