All Roads Head East

Fri, Aug 5th 2011, 12:28 PM

The official holiday to celebrate the abolition of slavery in The Bahamas has come and gone, but the party continues at Fox Hill Day on Tuesday.  The festivities begin in classic Bahamian style, with the people coming together to worship in church with a gospel song fest at the four Baptist churches in the community, then the fun really begins -- from watching the children happily plait the maypole to the brave at heart attempt to climb the greasy pole to nab the prize at the top -- and all the great eats that come with a true true Bahamian celebration.  It's a day for all Bahamians to kick back, have fun and enjoy being a Bahamian.

"[Fox Hill Day] lets us express ourselves and show who we are culturally," says 67-year-old Fox Hillian Donald Burrows.  "This is a good day for all of us to take pride in our heritage and celebrate where we have come from and where we are going.  I don't get up and dance as much as I used to but the fun still goes on."
While persons that live in the community take pride in this day of celebration, Burrows says it's just as important for people outside the community to enjoy the day as well.

"This is celebration for all of us.  Come plait the maypole with your sister.  Climb the greasy pole.  Eat some good food.  Dance to the music.  Just come out and have fun.  That's all I want to see this year.  This is not just about Fox Hill.  It's all of us.  So be here or be square"

If things go true to form, the air on Tuesday, August 9, will be thick with excitement as Bahamians gather on Freedom Park and the Fox Hill Parade Park to celebrate the historic community's annual festival. This year's festival is expected to be better than ever as typical elements of the affair have been expanded to cater to the hundreds of people, organizers anticipate will flock to the community.

"This is a day we as Fox Hillians look forward to," said Maurice Tynes, chairman of the Fox Hill Festival committee.  "We want people everywhere to come and have fun with us.  There are so many things you can come out to do.  We have games like bingo, hoopla and of course cultural activities like plaiting of the maypole and climbing the greasy pole.  The food will be spectacular.  If you can imagine it, it will probably be there -- baked chicken, fried fish, crawfish, peas and rice, crab and rice, macaroni, coleslaw, tarts, cakes, fruit drinks -- whatever you can think of.  We also will have a lot of native fruits out there and really bring back the memories of when Fox Hill was considered the bread basket of New Providence."

There will also be entertainment by Falcon and DJ Doc.  The Prison Band and Terry Strachan will bring live entertainment as well.  There will be fun for the children as well, since the park is equipped with a playground set and many games will be available for them to enjoy.  Tynes hopes to see a lot of people attend.

Fox Hill Day is the traditional day set aside by the people of Fox Hill to celebrate the abolition of slavery in The Bahamas.  It originates as a festival set up by Baptist churches in the area as a separate day for the people to celebrate the emancipation of the enslaved Africans.

Mizpha "Miss Annie" Adderley-Mackey, a 75-year-old Fox Hill resident, says the annual festival started out as a typical party day for the freed slaves but through the years has become a symbol of a proud heritage preserved through memory and celebration she and other members of the community have come to cherish.
"When I was a child, Fox Hill Day was the highlight of the year, besides Junkanoo and Easter.  It was a great experience that words can barely describe," says Adderley-Mackey.  

"You could feel the energy, the sense of community, the happiness, togetherness and safety being at the festival.  It was like something just grabs you up and makes you jump up and dance.  If the old people had arthritis and never moved more than a few feet a day, boy you could expect to see them dancing and shaking a leg for a bit on that day.  The young children would be playing marbles, games and eating all the food.  The big women would be doing ring play or plaiting the maypole and boy, the men -- they could show off their behinds -- would be on the greasy pole trying to grab the money bag or doing some kind of Junkanoo rush.  Boy, it was something back then."

The elder statesman says Fox Hill Day was so important in her youth that most people took the day off to make sure they enjoyed every moment of it.  Today, the festival is still a big thing to Fox Hillians and she is glad it is getting its spark back as people are becoming interested in it again.

"It was such a nice family thing and it still is.  If you have never really been before, give it a try because we need to get back to the good old days when everybody, not just Fox Hill people, were excited about the festival and sharing our culture," she says.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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