As you walk into the Estate Whim Museum on Saturday you can’t help but instantly smell the scent of pate, johnny cakes, and chicken being fried, see people walking with a cold passion fruit juice, or hear the sounds of the drums beating.
The 4th annual Folklife Festival is right on time for the kickoff of V.I. History Month and also a time of remembrance of what has been as well as a continuation of the preservation of the culture.
Ten Sleepless Knights member and festival organizer Kendell “KC” Henry said that different cultural workshops such as masquerade mask making, moko jumbie mask making, quadrille head ties, storytelling, cariso singing and drumming, woodworking, quadrille dancing, music by Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights, Crucian cooking and more were taking place.
“These different cultural local workshops we try to bring them back alive to keep the community engaged. We love when the community comes out and takes part in these various cultural activities,” Henry said.
“Every year we are getting bigger and bigger. We’ve even expanded it,” he said referring to the last week in March when they’ll be having events in St. Thomas.
In the outdoor kitchen, cooks were conducting demonstrations of saltfish gundy, pigtail rice, beignets, red grout, preserved jams, and jellies, and how to soak the ginger for the ginger beer.
In the main yard space cariso storytelling and other traditional storytelling took place. The day ended with a quadrille line dance and more entertainment.
Anyone interested in the other Folklife Festival events can see below:
St. Croix events:
- Cultural school tours at Alfredo Andrews, Eulalie Rivera, Juanita Gardine, John H. Woodson, Lew Muckle, and Ricardo Richards schools from Monday through Friday
- Night of Bomba, Bamboula, and African Dance starting at 7 p.m. on March 14 at the Island Center
- A Crucian Taste, starting at 7 p.m. on March 15 at Fort Frederik
- Rock Your Style/The Splendor of USVI Madras starting at 7 p.m. on March 22 at Fort Frederik
St. Thomas events:
- The Evolution of the Moko Jumbie at 7 p.m. on March 28 at Fort Christian
- Night of Bomba, Bamboula, and African Dance at 7 p.m. on March 29 at Fort Christian
- Folklore Festival Workshops from 12 – 6 p.m. on March 30 at Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Park
St. John events: to be announced.
