We are inviting your establishment to attend a press launch on Tuesday 23rd July 2013 at the Dock, Licorish Village, My Lord’s Hill, St. Michael at 10:00a.m. which will include a statement from the Landship about its present and future in the development of Barbados. Coordinators of the events for the 150th Anniversary will announce these and answer any queries and Members of the 150th Anniversary Committee will be in attendance.
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Good luck to them
There is a vacuum about our history as far as the youth is concerned. One senses that our so called middleclass is not interested in the entity Salvation Army and story telling.
Does the Salvation get support from government?
Will agree that there is a serious vacuum in our history and it has been a journey trying to understand the Landship and put it in perspective. Researching the Landship has led to a full search of the history of the Barbadian people. We have found the African connection to the Landship and for those who attend the anniversary lecture by Dr. Nancy Jacobs will leave there with a lot of food for thought. More information will be available after Tuesday. Like Landship fb page to stay abreast:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbados-Landship/146684118789246
Not sure about the Salvation Army. Landship does get some support from Government and further gave and still giving support to assist with Anniversary.
David, in the video above, you will notice the fist closed on the chest. This is the shakles and the going down is going into the belly of the ship. Just a taste but much of it is telling the story of the “Middle Passage” and how the enslaved Africans endured slavery.
wait ROK still alive
what about Bonny Peppa
ROK @ We know well , you dont have to be Bajan to keep going back in the past of slavery.
Try to look forward also after slavery of the steps made by us after all that pain ,
Lets now look also of 1832 to 2013.
@ROK
Thanks, meant to ask about the Landship and not the Salvation Army.
Ship astern……ship listing all hands pun deck… aye aye captain…..wuk up, wuk down bridge down woman…..wine and go dung…..Lanship boi…we ting Congrats to D Commandante et al !
@Deeds and Just asking et al. the history of the landship reflects the way our people have been able to combat and overcome adversity. The Landship during the thirties and forties provided a meaans of establishing a safety net through contributions to the Friendly societies, the meeting turn and so on whereby members could get “social security” in small amounts to “survive”. It provided entertainment and an outlet for the energies of the people. Its humourous poking of fun at the “masters” was an outlet for getting back at the”masters” without outward aggression, and gave the villagers a way of being part of the “War effort” during the world wars. The history is important.
Thanks Alvin. It sure is refreshing to see those with an appreciation and understanding. I am happy for the query by Deeds, as you call the handle because it is a challenge I am happy to face. It serves to bring out information, but at the same time I am not going to pre-empt anything. Here are four quotes which will hopefully give some understanding of what the Landship is:
“150 years ago, just after emancipation, the conditions that existed for the Africans on the plantation warranted the start of an organisation like the Landship that would cater to their every need, hence the Landship was formed. These ex-slaves had nobody to represent them. On the plantation workers had problems negotiating wages. The banks would take their money but they could never get a loan. Insurance was unheard of in those communities and there was no welfare system to help those who needed a hand.”
“The Landship provided these along with more services. For example, when it was realized that education was the key to uplifting the masses, many people saved to send their children to school and then to higher learning institutions in England. The Landship not only provided a facility for this, it also would give loans and grants to help. The child’s first school uniform, or a young person’s first clothes for work came as a grant from the Landship.”
“Conditions were so depressed that some people could not bury their dead. The Landship provided grants to cover expenses for their members to bury their dead. If a member was not working, they could get a grant or a loan to help them get back on their feet. When members retired, they received a pension. In saying this, it should be noted that the Landship went further than members. Benefits extended to the families of members and included children, spouse, siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, parents and grandparents. Only one member of the family had to be a member for all the other family members to benefit; and this still obtains today.”
“Mutual meaning an organisation that is owned by its members who pool their money for the benefit of all members. So, that cent a week from members in those times added up and hence the Landship was able to do all that had to be done to move the people and society upwards. Of course, this role today has been taken over by several institutions. These are the unions, the banks, the insurance companies and the credit unions, while the welfare aspect has been taken over by government.
“It therefore took five institutions to do what the Landship did as one institution. This is the level of contribution that the Landship has made to the development of Barbados.”
The “Landship” movements seem a very good form of exercise for both young and old alike; with a cultural story telling indigenously Barbadiana intertwined with West African rhythmic movements and imitated rigid English naval regalia and black subservience to authority figures from a bygone colonial era but still recognizable in today’s societal relationships.
It’s a marvelous thing that can be marketed (term not used with any culturally pejorative intent) as the Bajan version of Tai Chi speeded up or energised to reflect its African facet of the cultural expression.
It’s good to see the young people involved in true community (both young and old and in-between) spirit taking part in a healthy (both physically and culturally) event without the regular vulgarity of “wukupism” like by the act on display last Crop-over with two grown adults and a child publicly engaged in crass depravity and ‘naked’ corruption of the genuine art form called dancing.
Both types of “rhythmic dance” expressions have their places in the Barbadiana gallery of culture. But each also has it time to be on display.
I prefer the ‘Landship’ version as our regular on show rather than what was on display last Crop-over involving children who learn what they see.
@Miller
Why do you (and a lot of others ) see “wuk” as vulgar? First of all to wuk up like some of our bajan exponents is an art. Try and o it rhythmically as some of our people do. It is something that white people cannot do, because it is not in their genes. Yes it is in our genes. If you go back in history and check out the dances of Nigeria, you will see that some of our ancestors used to do theses types of dances “with rhythmic movements of the hips, simuulating the sexual act” while lying on the ground etc. Go check it out. I don’t have the reference at the moment because it was some years ago that I researched it. But look at “wuk-wp” from an artistic perspective and see the art in it. Of course some people carry it to extremes but you eill also get these extremes in any form of dance, or even extremes in any human acivity. don’t knock it if you have not tried it.,
@Miller
without the regular vulgarity of “wukupism” like by the act on display last Crop-over with two grown adults and a child publicly engaged in crass depravity and ‘naked’ corruption of the genuine art form called dancing.
***********
Stop taking pot shots at Onions
@ Alvin Cummins | July 20, 2013 at 10:22 AM |
As self-confessed writer you sometimes amaze us with your childish inability to interpret things written with the mind of an intelligent being.
The issue of payment for imports in Bajan dollars to foreign suppliers in a case in point as articulated by David (BU) who laboured the point of this being not practical given Barbados’ disadvantageous trading position Barbados with its trading partners especially T&T but he failed miserably to penetrate your yellowed mindset.
Didn’t I say that both versions of the art form have a place in the Barbadian gallery of cultural expression? It’s a matter of taste.
It just ‘happen’ that I see the Landship version of the same rhythmic expression with its roots in West Africa as the more appealing to the cultured eyes (however you wish to interpret the word ‘cultured’).
Let us put it this way: I would prefer to hear Gabby or RPB sing “calypsos” than Georgie Porgie for an extended period of time or listen to Clarence Thompson or the late Midge Springer or the Grant guy (his first name escapes me) than an Alvin Cummins singing Karaoke in a rum shop.
Both are versions of singing, aren’t you a singer? Get my drift?
Simulated sex in dance, yes; but not to much of the time, my friend.
Variety is the spice of life but too much of “Wukupism” can be a bit too hot for the attractively tasty flavouring of the Bajan cultural tapestry now viewed by world wide audience.
Landship any day telling a story in dance before simulated sex ad nauseam!
Well all good , But by now the truth about Queen Beatrice Henry 1892-1985 needs to be told also , See if you know or can find what is hidden , 100 years of truth hidden by lies of the most high of this island ,In 93 years she cant be found , only in family records?
What happen to the Plantation Deeds sold at low sugar prices WW1 WW2. ? or did the Sir H Beckles cant see to do books on that?
National Trust books are very very gappppy fraud is a better word to hide others named in Ourstory not His-story
@Miller. You obviously have not read my books. Try them you will like them. I still stick to my position and maintain that we should pay for our purchases from trinidad in trinidad currency, however obtained. Pay them in the coin of the realom.
I prefer to see, look at closely and enjoy our females :wukking up” anyday, without seeing vulgarity in it than watch white people trying to dance even the waltz. they have no sense of rhythm, an do not get into the spirit of the dance and the music.
I agree with mr cummins, some people have no appreciation of dance. My neighbor came over to talk and my dog started wukking up his leg and all he could do was curse and yell at the dog and never did tell me what he wanted.
Superb, what a webpage it is! This web site gives helpful facts to us,
keep it up.
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