Slave descendants celebrate their freedom in the Caribbean Maroon and String band Music festival at Carriacou.
It all started early in the morning of the 25th of April, when we rose from our beds at 4.30 am to witness the ceremony that started this Caribbean festival. If we had known with our tired heads that the ceremony means cutting the throats of three chickens, let their bodies running around and throwing Coke, rum or other drinks on them, I don’t know if I would have left my cosy bed…
By Mallika & Photography by Deep
But the sincerity with which they performed this ceremony was touching and in the end I was even able to offer my bright orange soda, which they had put in my hands, on one of the heads of the poor chickens. We had to take a sip of rum (at 6.00 am in the morning on an empty stomach) together to complete the prayers for a successful Caribbean festival.
Luckily the rest of the festival was not so bloody and early. After the chicken ceremony the women went busy preparing local dishes in giant cauldrons for the rest of the day. They smoked all kinds of food in there. Rice, polenta, chicken, porc and beef were transformed in tasty and smokey delicacies. At the end of the day the whole Caribbean island was invited to get their share of this big amount of food for free. The food and atmosphere was great!
After diner a procession with torches followed. Young girls in folkloric dresses were singing and dancing African songs. Although the performance was not performed flawless, the open, smiling faces of the girls and their giggling made it the perfect event. Winston, an old man with a great knowledge of and great love for the ancient African heritage, was
leading the African songs with his drummers. His authentic clothes made him look like a real medicine man and when he drummed, it was as if he was absorbed in another world. During this whole evening there were nearly only Caribbean locals and it was clearly their sacred evening. We were pleasantly surprised by the way we were accepted in their midst. They invited us to eat with them, dance with them and to share this sacred evening together with them. Really heartbreaking!
The Maroon festival is about thanksgiving and prayers to the source of life, production and prosperity. The Maroons however were the slaves who escaped from the plantations to build up their lives in the wild, where they tried to reconnect with their African roots 
again. When we ask the locals about this it seems that most of the people from Carriacou
don’t even know this story. According to them the slave situation was never that bad on their island. So the word Maroon here is not really linked to a negative experience in former days, luckily. But it is clear that the local inhabitants are proud of their festival in which they want to celebrate and honor their African heritage.
Enjoy the drums on this Caribbean maroon festival
For three days the quiet and serene Carriacou changes into an island full of sounds of African drums, laughter and steel bands. Throughout the whole island you can enjoy all kind of performances, going from Folkloric dances with drums to modern dancing with nowadays pop music. A theatre group made themselves popular by performing a comedy. For the locals a big laugh, for us a lot of fun to see the audience reacting so gay. The jokes were hard to get in that typical West Indian English. The last evening on Paradise beach the festival ended with some good Socca and Reggae bands. A real party and a lot of dancing with bare feet in the white sand. Mmmmm… just like Caribbean paradise…
We loved to have been part of this beautiful event!
And… in the customs and immigration office of Carriacou, Captain Deep is now well know as the Dancing Capt’n!
TIP:
Enjoy the extremely old culture and nature of Greece.