IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY

A Tribute To Our African Ancestors

(Published in THE JAMAICA WEEKLY GLEANER, NA (July 1997) and EVERYBODY'S Magazine (New York) (February 1998) in edited formats. Published here, further edited, with the permission of its author.)

By Patricia Boothe

A Tribute To Our African Ancestors was held at the Maima Seville Heritage Park, in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, West Indies, in three phases over a two-day period, from July 28 through July 29, 1997. On Monday, July 28, 1997, the program included a Salute to the Ancestors in the form of a wake/set up/Nine Night with sankey singing, drumming and revival group meetings. On Tuesday, July 29, 1997, there was an interment of the remains of the "African slaves," memorial and funeral procession.

The Seville event came on the heels of Jamaica's celebration of two milestones in its history. Last August, Jamaica, for the first time in 35 years, celebrated Emancipation Day, August 1, as a separate holiday from its Independence Day (August 6), which is officially celebrated on the first Monday in August.

Seville Plantation is located in Ocho Rios, St. Ann's Parish, on Jamaica's north coast. It was established in the 1670s and continued to produce sugar utilizing the labor of an average of 275 slaves (sex ratio = 50/50) through Emancipation in 1838. After Emancipation, an effort was made to supplement the dwindling labor force with East Indian indentured laborers. By the late nineteenth century, the fields were converted to less laborer intensive banana and, finally, copra (a by-product of the coconut) production. The plantation was ultimately abandoned and only recently reorganized as a historical park.

Between 1989 and 1992, an anthropological expedition/excavation at the Seville Plantation, under the direction of Douglas V. Armstrong of the Anthropology Department of the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, in cooperation with the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, yielded the remains of four individuals who, through analysis by the Syracuse University team, have been identified as Africans who were brought to Jamaica during the slave trade. Identification was possible due to the mortuary practices of the African slaves who continued the traditions of their African homeland in their new "home."

Additional information to assist with identification was gleaned from the 1818 inventory of slaves for Seville Sugar Estate, Jamaican Archives. Among other things, according to a report ("Cultural Transformation Within Caribbean Slave Communities" published by Southern Illinois University, 11/18/96) by Douglas V. Armstrong, of Syracuse University, Maxwell School, Anthropology Department:

Each of the individuals was buried with a distinctive set of artifacts conveying information about them and their relationships with others in the community. Two contrasting burial offerings reflect varying individual identites and complex social relations. Ritual and spiritual significance of the dead to the living is expressed in the mortuary goods buried with the only female (SAJ-B3), and youngest individual (late teens). A pecked crystal stopper was placed above the chest cavity immediately above the coffin. The glassware crystal represents the offering of a relatively expensive item (probably salvaged after its initial breakage from the planter's residence). The crystal's pecked surfaces reflects a new symbolic use applied to the stopper and its presence in the grave suggests the importance of this individual in areas pertaining to ritual, religion, and internally defined power.

In contrast, a second burial contains tools reflecting a skilled tradesperson. The oldest male (SAJ-B4), in his late forties, had a calibrated carpenter's spacer at his side. The carpenter's spacer is no doubt an acknowledgement by the living of woodworking and carpentry activities with which this individual was associated in life. . . . The elaborate nature of this burial (cut stone markers, ornamental coffin handles, the carpenter's spacer, a rectangular sheet metal plate, and relatively elaborate clothing) and his placement within the house-yard indicate that this individual was recognized not only for his skill as a tradesperson but for his position within the community. The burials from Seville reveal elements of retention of African burial practices while revealing local cultural variation indicative of the creative processes of transformation associated with the emergence of new cultures and societies in the Americas.

The remains of these four individuals were the centerpiece for the event held at Maima-Seville Great House and Heritage Park in July 1997.

The initial planning and organization of the July event are attributed to the activism of Minion Phillips, a local restauranteur, owner of Minnie's Vegetarian & Seafood Restaurant, a sprawling beachside complex, who since 1982, had been unofficially sponsoring Emancipation Day celebrations in the Ocho Rios community with a series of cultural and educational programs.

Because of Minion's increasing activism over the last fifteen years, some churches in Jamaica approached her by formal letter saying: "Through your spearheadedness you have motivated us to form a committee to lobby to the government to make August 1, Emancipation Day, a national holiday." They were successful in their appeal to the government, and August 1, 1997 was declared the first official celebration of Emancipation after a 35-year hiatus.

On an initial visit to the plantation in April 1997, Minion's attention was held by a foam-covered box on the porch of the great house, which the guides referred to as "Skelly," The Unknown Slave. On inquiry, Minion was told that the box bore the remains of an individual who had been excavated by a team of Spanish archaeologists some 16 years ago and had subsequently become an attraction for tours of the plantation.

Minion, to say the least, was aghast. How could an ancestor be treated so disrespectfully?! Minion was determined that the remains of this and the other four "ancestors" from the Syracuse excavation receive a proper burial, and to make the event of reburial even more significant, that it be done with a ritual service during the period leading up to the Emancipation celebrations. Minion believed that "Emancipation can only be of real significance if slavery can be symbolically buried so we can rise with a new spirit . . . . By putting our ancestors' spirit to rest . . . something can happen in our lives as a people."

Minion's appeal to the churches and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust for the proper burial of the remains yeilded a Seville Emancipation Celebrations Committee which determined that reburial of the remains of the four Africans was appropriate.

At the Tribute To Our African Ancestors, held July 28 and 29, 1998, spirits, both living and dead, were revived as a procession led by revivalists sang, drummed, read passages from the Bible, purified the air with incense, and danced around a table laden with fruits, candles, and alcoholic and aerated beverages -- offerings to the spirits.

"These bones would even make the dead wake . . . . I can feel the spirit of the Almighty working with these ancestors," remarked High Priest Commander Shad of the Ethiopian Healing Temple, Islington, St. Mary. The High Priest, who was an incense bearer at the wake, was convinced that the solemn occasion would have a profound effect on the lives of the estimated 6,000 persons who attended.

A visiting Ghanaian, who asked not to be identified, observed, "This is very moving for me. It proves that there are links to almost all the countries in Africa. These are our traditions. These are our ways of doing things. . . . I could see it here. In Africa, we do the same thing . . . we pour libations, we give offerings to our ancestors, we gather, we sing and dance . . . ."

"My God is good, my God is good," was the final refrain of the gathering accompanied by the revivalists drums, as the four coffins were lowered into a single grave.

Footnote: On July 30 and 31, 1998, an anniversary event was held to commemorate last year's ceremony. In a conversation with Minion Phillips, principal coordinator of last year's burial ceremony, she said two of the remains buried at that time would be again exhumed and forwarded to Ghana in time for the Ghanian Emancipation celebrations. Ms. Phillips hoped to accompany them on that journey. Asked why not all four, Ms. Phillips said, "We can't give them everything. We want to retain the others on the soil on which they were buried. Allowing two to be returned is a symbolic gesture of their journey home."

Only one of the remains, the female, Crystal, was in fact returned to Ghana for that country's first Emancipation celebrations.