Caribbean.Conservation.Chic.

Montserrat's St. Patrick's Day

Despite being able to see the island from Antigua, I cant go…I have a J’can passport. It would be like Boston all over again.

bonesarecoralmade:

In most of the world, Thursday is an Irish holiday, commemorating the patron Saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, who converted the Irish to Christianity. But in the small island nation of Montserrat, the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, St. Patrick’s Day has become a celebration of the many diverse aspects of its Irish and African heritage.

This heritage can be traced back to the 1630s when Irish Roman Catholic planters brought African slaves to Montserrat to work the sugar cane fields.

“Unless you factor the past in, you’ve left out a piece of the puzzle,” says Montserratian Ann Marie Dewar. For her and many Montserratians, St. Patrick’s Day primarily celebrates the March 17, 1768 Afro-Montserratian slave uprising against the nation’s Irish planters.

Though the St. Patrick’s Day revolt was aborted, the martyrdom of these rebels continues to serve as an inspiration to the island’s people, challenged by severe natural disaster for the past 20 years.

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