A call has been made for young persons in Dominica to put God first in everything to realize success as a nation. This call came from Cultural Elder Skeet Tyson who was sashed on Sunday as the Cultural Elder of the year by the Division of Kalinago Upliftment in collaboration with the Kalinago Council and the Kalinago Events Committee as part of celebrations to commence the 2024 Kalinago Week. Kalinago Week will be held from September 15th to September 22nd under the theme: Unity in Diversity, Embracing Kalinago Culture.
“To the young persons, I will say to them to take it easy, one day at a time and just have the Lord in our midst first and everything will fall in line. For today, I feel great for being the Cultural Elder for Kalinago Week 2024 and for everything that I have done for my community, I feel good” stated Tyson.
Several activities are scheduled for undertaking within the Territory in observation of Kalinago Week 2024. Cultural Officer Prosper Paris encouraged the Dominican population to support the events as we worked together to develop Waitukubuli.
“Our next activity will be on September 17th with the Full Moon Naming Ceremony and the Kalinago Traditional Dinner at the Kalinago Barana Aute from 7:00 pm. On September 18th we will have our Heritage, History, Myths and Legend Day at the Kalinago Barana Aute targeting the Primary School students of Grade Six from 10:00 am. We will be teaching the students about herbal medicines and Kalinago heritage. The smoke ceremony will be on September 19th in memory of our past heroes who fell and fought for the liberation of the Kalinago people at the 1930 Uprising Site in St. Cyr from 10:00 am. On Saturday, we will feature a Fashion Show at the Karina Cultural Center to showcase traditional costumes and models in native wear. It is a good opportunity to purchase costume wear which will also be available for sale from September 15th at the Soutomah Park in Gaulette River. We want to invite everyone to the activities,” Prosper remarked.
Kalinago Chief, Anette Thomas-Sanford says it’s a proud moment for Kalinagos and it’s important to recognize the achievements of those who contributed significantly towards the growth of the Kalinago space. She highlighted the National Kalinago Dress Day scheduled for this Thursday, where kalinagos around the world are encouraged to wear Traditional Kalinago Wear that day.
According to Mrs. Sanford, “This week we are celebrating Kalinago Week and we did honor our Cultural Elder Mr. Skeet Tyson who has contributed to the community we believe that going forward, we need to recognize our elders and the contributions that they make because if information and tradition is not passed on, it will be lost by our youth and the community. We are celebrating Kalinago Week under the theme: Unity in Diversity, Embracing Kalinago Culture. I am encouraging all our indigenous people to work together and recognize that unified as a force we can accomplish so much more than our self and interests. We want to encourage all the people around Dominica and persons who are Kalinago but living out of the Kalinago Territory to come and celebrate with us, particularly our Kalinago Dress Day which is on Thursday. We are encouraging all persons wherever you are, if you are indigenous or have some indigenous background to wear an indigenous outfit on Thursday and be part of our celebration”.
Minister for Environment, Rural Modernisation, Kalinago Upliftment and Constituency Empowerment and Parliamentary Representative for the Kalingo Constituency, Cozier Frederick says that the theme chosen to celebrate this year calls for greater harmony among the Kalinago people to achieve its goals as an indigenous people.
Frederick stated that “unity in diversity is a theme that encapsulates exactly what we are as a unique people in the Kalinago space. It means that although we appear to be different than the rest of the Waitukubulian population, it is important to know that our heritage is what drives the Waitukubulian society. For many moons we have integrated into Dominican society, we have many people who have assisted us in the journey and it has come to a point in our history where we are putting ourselves together to ensure that we can harness all our resources to ensure that the financial obligations that we have as a people, the human capacity, all of this is shared as we have a common dream and hope to make the Kalinago nation a powerful nation to prepare us moving forward. We want to keep a better and more powerful community for generations of Kalinago children to come”.
Following Sunday’s church service, a Kalinago Expo was held at the Soutamah Park in Gaulette River under the auspices of the President of Dominica, Her Excellency Sylvanie Burton. A Traditional Mas Lapo Kabwit Competition was held where the Sineku Lapo Kabwit Band emerged winner walking away with a cash prize of $1500.