Crop Over 2008 is now history and if we are to judge by the pronouncements of the Minister of Culture Steve Blackett and the Officials at the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), it was a resounding success. Some people may question what was the yardstick used to measure success; the Minister and his supporting cast seem to have used the fact that there was high people participation. While more people may have participated the BU household has some concerns.
Crop Over – the concept was promoted in the early days as a celebration by Barbadians to recognize a successful sugar cane harvest. Over the years it has evolved to a carnival. Despite the obvious shift from its early anchor BU remain married to the original concept. Crop Over should be used as the flagship event to lift the Barbados cultural experience. While we have no problem with experimenting with the festival’s core design, promoting the Bajan identity MUST remain the main plot.
We listened with interest to Dennis Johnson who continues to be one of the few genuine personalities on talk radio. He made the same point which we have made above. To paraphrase what he said, he talked about Barbadians diluting their ‘Bajanness’ in order to assimilate into other cultures. Barbadians seem to be blessed with a characteristic which says that if we have to surrender our ‘Bajanness’ to make others happy, so be it. The BU household is uncompromising in the view that if a nation is confused about its identity it will inevitably lead to dire consequences.We have identified the Crop Over festival as a critical activity to lift the Barbados cultural experience. It is the most significant festival on the cultural calendar; if it continues to be mis-handled with misplaced priorities it will have an everlasting impact on the Barbados landscape. Cultural development and expression are important to the well being of any nation. The politically motivated appointments in key positions in the cultural industry should be reviewed as a matter of urgency. While the fete element in Crop Over seems to be flourishing, we are concerned that the Bajan identity which originally branded the festival has receded in recent years.
We have to comment on the minor controversy caused by a Christian element deciding to participate in Crop Over activities. The Christians participation in the festival should be viewed as positive. Any opportunity to spread the word by preaching to sinners should be grasped. It is our sense that revellers maybe uncomfortable with the Christians participation because they represent the moral compass many have tossed in the rubbish heap. We applaud the Christians for taking a stance. We encourage them to continue to work at how they communicate with the public. Currently there is an ‘us them’ perception which maybe inhibiting their work; we expect this situation to change with time.
Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called “the way of life for an entire society.”[3] As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief as well as the art. Cultural anthropologists most commonly use the term “culture” to refer to the universal human capacity and activities to classify, codify and communicate their experiences materially and symbolically. Scholars have long viewed this capacity as a defining feature of humans (although some primatologists have identified aspects of culture such as learned tool making and use among humankind’s closest relatives in the animal kingdom) – Source: Wikipedia
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