DECEMBERNine Mornings
| The unique Vincentian cultural tradition of "Nine
Mornings" is enthusiastically celebrated in Bequia. For the nine nights
before Christmas, music, singing and revels takes place up and down the
island in an exuberant countdown to Christmas.
The precise origins of the custom are unknown,
although it is believed to have developed in St. Vincent after
emancipation, (and in its present form in the late 19th /early 20th
century) as a fusion of multicultural forms of celebration - such as
music, drums and dance - with the Christian festival of Christmas, and
later, in association with the early morning Christmas Novenas,
formerly celebrated at midday by the Catholic church.
So don't be surprised if you hear songs and reveling into the wee hours in Christmas week; its all part of Christmas on Bequia! Bequians take their carolling very seriously. Shortly before Christmas groups representing the islands villages and communities compete in an evening carol competition attended by most of the island and its visitors. |
| The only thing that is missing from Christmas on
Bequia is snow! The Christmas spirit is the same on the island as
anywhere in the world - good will and season's greetings abound,
families and friends get together, and shops are full of unusual gifts
and delicious treats. Midnight services on Christmas Eve at both the
Anglican church in Port Elizabeth and the tiny Catholic Church in
Hamilton welcome all worshippers.
On Christmas Day, as on Christmas Eve, hotels and restaurants offer traditional Christmas fare with all the familiar trimmings - with that extra West Indian flair. New Year's Eve in St. Vincent & the Grenadines is more commonly, (and quite sensibly!) known as Old Year's Night, and Bequia really knows how to "ring out the old and ring in the new"! The harbour fills with visiting yachts, and ashore there are celebrations in every restaurant and bar - all the stops are pulled out for this one special night of the year. A spectacular firework display over Bequia Harbour is the highlight of the evening. Sponsored by Bequia's business community, it's a climax that no one will want to miss. Midnight is accompanied by a sky lit up with fireworks and flares, popping corks and warm embraces - and then the partying really begins! |
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6th Bequia Music Fest 2009, January 22-25
JANUARY 2009
& Mustique Blues Festival in Bequia (January 23)
Homepage & Slide Show of the Bequia Music Fest 2008
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The Bequia
Tourism Association, (in conjunction with the St. Vincent Department of
Tourism & Basil's Bar), is the organising body responsible for
bringing the world-famous Mustique Blues Festival to Bequia for one
glorious evening in January.
The Blues Festival began in Mustique in 1996 as the brainchild of Basil Charles (known to everyone on Mustique simply as "Basil"), and London's Lady of the Blues, Dana Gillespie.
In the ensuing years the Blues Festival has become a must for everyone
visiting St. Vincent & the Grenadines in late January and early
February. Most of the performances are held at Basil's Bar in Mustique,
but Bequia hosts one Friday night performance - and a real party
atmosphere pervades the venue when it's Bequia's turn to put on the
show!
Thursday, January 22nd Steel Pan Celebration - 13 piece Elite Steel Pan Orchestra Friday,
January 23rd, De Reef Lower Bay, 8.30pm: From
Europe & USA: Saturday, January 24th, De Reef Lower Bay, 8.30 The All Star
Band Plus surprise guests! Sunday, January 25th, De Reef Lower Bay, 12 noon: Jazz & Blues Jam
Session Please check back for final 2009 line-up! |
FEBRUARY 2008
Sunshine School Auction
at L'Auberge des Grenadines
Preview & Jumble Sale: 12.30pm - Auction: 2pm
| The Bequia Sunshine School for
Children with Special Needs, now in its 24th year of operation, holds
its annual Sunday fund-raising auction in mid-February. This very
special school is a privately funded educational institution
administered primarily by a local board of directors. The government
pays for the salary of the head teacher only; all other costs have to
be raised by private donation - and the need for funds is
constant.
The benefits of the school to Bequia's children with special needs are huge, and vitally important to their development as individuals. Currently there are 26 children attending daily classes, with 6 part time students; their progress in all aspects of learning and skill training is extraordinary - due in no small part to the dedication of the teachers.
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The annual auction is now in its sixteenth year
and is fast becoming one of the most fun events of the season. Items
for the auction, and for the Jumble Sale which precedes it, are all
donated by well-wishers - many of whom are from the boating community
so the sale has a distinct marine flavour. But there could
be literally anything up for sale - a computer, an electric keyboard
and a wind generator were all bid for enthusiastically last year.
EC$10,000 is enough to cover the running costs of the school for three months, and this is the target that is aimed for each year. February 2006 saw a massive EC$24,000 raised with a bumper crowd of bargain hunters and well-wishers packing the auction venue from 12.30pm till the last lot was sold close to 5pm. Advance details of the auction are published in Bequia This Week from Christmas onwards. To find out more about Bequia Sunshine School
contact principal |
MARCH 2009
Bequia
Easter Regatta April 9th-13th, 2009:)
To go directly
to the online pre-registration form click HERE
Easter Regatta
2007 final Press Release - click HERE
Finally - see the Easter Regatta 2008 Photo Gallery!
| For as long as any one can remember, there has
always been a Bequia Regatta. Formerly at Whitsun, now for the last 26
years held at Easter, Bequia's Regatta is rightly famous for its unique
blend of local boat racing, yacht racing and Bequia hospitality.
A fleet of more than thirty traditional local boats from Bequia and her neighbouring islands, some no more than 12 feet long, others a majestic (by comparison) 28 feet in length and capable of extraordinary speed and agility, compete out on the sparkling waters around Bequia. And on the same waters, another thirty or more yachts every one racing with the same verve and determination, striving to achieve that perfect harmony of boat, wind and sail. It's a fabulous, colourful weekend, full of fun and camaraderie, skill and tradition, with the whole island caught up in regatta fever. Sunday's Lay Day on Lower Bay beach is a grand fete for everyone, with beach games, a Crazy Craft race, sandcastle competition, model boat races, impromptu barbecues, music and revelry.
The hard working volunteer members of the Bequia Sailing Club are responsible for putting on this high profile event every year, and every year it gets better and better. The island is almost full to bursting for the Easter period, and the harbour is packed with yachts. People come from all over the world just to be in Bequia for regatta, and none are ever disappointed. The island puts on its best and brightest show, and everyone just loves it! Bequia Sailing Club: Easter Regatta 2008 Schedule |
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Bequia Carnival
JUNE
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Bequia Carnival takes places at the end of June, and
is a delightfully informal and spontaneous affair.
With St. Vincent's "Vincy Mas" now the nation's premier tourism event, Bequia's own Carnival looks set to move forward as well and become a true small island carnival and a permanent fixture in the island's cultural calendar. |
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JULYFisherman's Day
| If Bequia Regatta is a celebration of Bequia's
traditions of boat-building and seamanship, Bequia's Fisherman's Day
(held on the first Saturday after Vincy Mas) is a lively and fiercely
contested demonstration of the island's abundant skills at harvesting
the waters that surround the island.
Once again the Rotary Club of Bequia are the organizers, with the famous "Rotary Wives" doing a fine job in cooking up the catches and providing delicious fresher-than-fresh barbecue and baked fish lunches, complete with rice'n'peas, dasheen, yams, plantains, green bananas, coucou, breadfruit and coleslaw. The competition begins at first light, and all catches have to be in by early afternoon. Not surprisingly, it's the biggest catch by weight that wins, but there are various categories for the different types of fishing - trolling, bottom line deep water, bottom line inshore, etc. Plus of course a special prize for that all important Biggest Single Fish! Spectators also get an all too rare chance to buy as much fresh fish as they want, straight off the dock and those in the know come prepared with bags to carry their purchases away! |
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PUBLIC HOLIDAYS 2007
March 14: National Heroes Day
"Chatoyer the chief
of the Black Late
18th century engraving from
1773 original by Agostino Brunias |
2002 was the first year that National Heroes Day was celebrated in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. On this day the country remembers the death of the country's first national hero, Carib Chief Joseph Chatoyer who was killed in 1795 during the second Carib War - a fierce and determined resistance to the British occupation of St. Vincent. After Chatoyer's death, the Caribs continued their defiant fighting for the next year or more, only finally surrendering in late 1796. The British were so determined to rid St. Vincent of all possibility of future Carib resistance that virtually the entire Black Carib population - close to 4500 in number - were shipped to the uninhabited island of Balliceaux off Bequia's north east coast, to await onward transportation to Roatan in the Gulf of Honduras. But by March 1797, when transportation from Bequia to Roatan began, it is estimated that nearly half of the Caribs had failed to survive their months of exile on Balliceaux, and still more died on their journey to Roatan. |
Friday April 6, 2007: Good Friday
Sunday April 8, 2007: Easter Sunday
Monday April 9, 2007: Easter Monday
May 1: Labour Day
May 28: Whit Monday
August 1: Emancipation Day
| On August 1st 1834, the "Act for the Abolition of
Slavery in the Island of Saint Vincent and its Dependencies" came into
effect. However for the 22,500 slaves in St. Vincent at that time,
their life was not noticeably changed. Only slave children under the
age of six (officially recorded in 1835 as being 2,959) became free as
of that date.
The remainder, including about 14,000 attached to estates, were subjected to a further four years of 'apprenticed labour' wherein "such person shall be entitled to the services of such apprenticed labourer as would for the time being have been entitled to his services as a Slave if this Act had not been passed". Full emancipation was finally granted to all former slaves on August 1st 1838. |
October
27: Independence Day
St. Vincent & the Grenadines
achieved its independence from Great Britain in 1979.
The state remains a part of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
December 25: Christmas Day
December 26: Boxing Day