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. Made possible by the generosity of private individuals and Bequia's business community, it's a climax to the holiday celbrations 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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JANUARY 201310th Bequia Mount Gay Music Fest 2013, January 24th - 27th
& Mustique Blues Festival in Bequia (January 25th)
Homepage of the Bequia Music Fest 2013
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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 24th Friday,
January 25th, De Reef Lower Bay, 8.30pm: Saturday, January 26th, Please check
back for final line-up! Sunday, January 27th,
12.30pm, |
De Reef is
jumping!
Mahalia - NEXCYX
FEBRUARY 2013
Sunshine School
Auction, Sunday, 17th February
at Gingerbread Restaurant
Viewing from 11.30am - Auction starts 1pm
| The
Bequia Sunshine School for Children with
Special Needs, now in its 29th 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 and
one other 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 31 children attending daily classes;
their progress in all aspects of learning
and skill training is extraordinary - due in
no small part to the dedication of the
teachers. |
There could be
literally anything up for sale - jewellery,
antique prints, art work, clothing, furniture,
household items, marine items, donated
dinners and services and handicrafts
made by the students at the school are all
likely to be on offer.
EC$20,000 is enough to cover the running costs of the school for four months, and this is the target that is aimed for each year. To find out more
about Bequia Sunshine School contact
principal |
April 2013
Bequia Heineken Easter Regatta (March 28th
- April 1st, 2013)
To go directly to the online pre-registration form
click HERE
Easter Regatta 2012 final Press Release - click HERE
See the Bequia Heineken Easter
Regatta 2012 Slideshow
| For
as long as any one can remember, there has
always been a Bequia Regatta. Formerly at
Whitsun, now for the last 30 years held at
Easter, Bequia's Regatta is rightly famous
for its unique blend of local boat racing,
yacht racing shoreside activities 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. 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 Regatta Lay Day on Lower Bay beach sees a grand fete for boatloads of visitors from the mainland, while Friendship Bay Beach hosts a family Layday with Sandcastle and Crazy Craft competitions, and easter activities organised by regatta sponsors Bequia Beach Hotel.
The hard working
volunteer members of the Bequia Sailing
Club are responsible for putting on this
high profile event every year, and the
event is internationally renowned as the
largest regatta in the region, the unique
traditional local boat racing, and the
well run, challenging yacht races which
include the J24 Southern Caribbean
Championship. Bequia
Sailing Club officers 2011: Easter Regatta
2013 Schedule |
|
Bequia Carnival
JUNE
 |
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. |
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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Bequia Basketball
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PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
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. |
| 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