The Root of Crop Over
The Root of Crop Over!
After two years of lockdowns and ‘stan home’ parties due to the rampage of the Covid-19 pandemic, Crop Over is back! The 2022 summer season has brought a burst of energy across the island of Barbados as the festival is once again in full swing. From all-white parties and new music dominating the radio waves, it is safe to say that Bajans are thoroughly enjoying themselves this season. When many individuals hear the words ‘Crop Over’, they cannot help but envisage the myriad of events over a three month period. What likely comes to mind are the releases of new music by local artistes, competitions like Pic-O-De-Crop and Soca Monarch Finals, Bridgetown Market, the fetes and naturally, the final curtain closing with Grand Kadooment. Some non-Bajans may even resign the festival simply to a carnival and a time for gallivanting in costumes. This revelation sparked a few questions for me. Is it really just all about partying? How did this festival even come to be? With these questions at the forefront of the discussion, it is time to get to the root of Crop Over!
As with much of our history, the origins of this festival are linked to agricultural production, with its name giving a nod to the principal crop in Barbados: sugarcane. At the top of our Coat of Arms, held triumphantly in a fist are two pieces of sugarcane, a symbol of its significance in our island’s legacy. Introduced to Barbados in the 1640s as an efficient money maker for British planters, this crop soon shaped the entirety of Barbadian society. By the year 1700, over 1,300 sugar plantations had been erected, a truly eye-opening number for such a small island (Spencer, 1974, p. 1). As sugar cemented itself as the crop of all crops, an increasing number of black enslaved Africans were shipped to the island and scattered across the various estates to ensure a steady controlled labour force. In doing so, these enslaved persons and their descendents would become deeply intertwined with sugar production. With few other options for employment after emancipation in 1838, Afro-Barbadians continued to work primarily in the sugar industry. Their lives revolved around the preparation of the fields, planting and the reaping of the crop and the subsequent manufacture of by-products like sugar, molasses and of course, rum.
The focus of this article, however, is the period of harvesting, which commenced in January on most estates. For six months of the year, all attention was turned to the accomplishment of this goal. With everything banking on the success of each year’s crop, the economy was veritably vulnerable to such obstacles as heavy rains, disease and fires, the latter which proved to be particularly bothersome. As a result, it was considered a great mercy to make it to the end of the harvest, with little to no problems. Consequently, believe it or not, ‘Crop Over’ was celebrated with much reverence by the second half of the 19th Century. This was confirmed in 1868 by the Acting Governor, Robert Mundy who declared August 27 of that year as a day of sacredness, “observed by all Churches, Chapels and any place of worship, and by every inhabitant of the island” (Stoute, 27 May, 1979, p. 11). On this Thursday, everyone was expected to not only pray to be shielded from devastation by storm and disease but also to thank God for the culmination of a successful harvest season. Considering that the livelihood of both planter and labourer heavily depended on this, the decision to do so was not in the least bit surprising.
However, there was an additional, and perhaps bigger, celebration which was directly linked to the work done during the harvest period. It goes without saying that sugarcane production was nothing if not difficult. The Advocate made this abundantly clear in 1951 when featured in the newspaper was a review of that year’s crop season. Even by mid-June, after six months, the harvest was not yet completed. This prompted the workers at Upton Plantation, St. Michael to voice their frustrations, noting that they were “tired of cutting canes” (Barbados Advocate, 16 June 1951, p. 5). Fair words these most definitely were and brought to mind the words of the familiar folk song, Sugar Cane:
Planters planting sugarcane, the cane grow big and tall
In the broiling sun and the dripping rain, money for one and all…
Cut de sugarcane til it bun mi hand
While the song may have a catchy tune, its lyrics speak to the extended and weary days cutting cane during the harvest season and the burden this work placed on the body. The constant cutting left the hands of the labourers sore and bruised while their backs ached. From those months of grueling, back-breaking labour, Crop Over was born. At the end of the harvest, after the final set of canes had finally been cut and loaded, it was customary for each plantation to host a party. This party was a treat of sorts for the work completed and a grateful expression for a successful season. It is unclear when exactly the first of these plantation parties was held but one of the earliest recorded occurred in the parish of St. Thomas on the Selman’s Plantation. At the time, the overseer was a Dr. George Walton who was described as “liberal and kind-hearted” (The Barbadian, 24 July, 1858, p.3). This gentleman had a well-sized ox slaughtered of which he, his friends and all of the workers feasted. The party did not stop there. That Saturday evening, the estate was far more festive than usual with wine and falernum being named as the drinks of choice. According to the Barbadian, “dancing was the order of the evening” and speeches both from the good doctor and the labourers added to the spirited atmosphere (The Barbadian, 24 July, 1958, p. 3).
According to reports, these estate festivities, full of laughter and fun, were what became the widespread and long-lasting traditions across estates in Barbados. In 1974, Florence Spencer gave a recount of what those days were like. She revealed that these annual parties were the light in an otherwise monotonous and difficult life for the labourers. They took this opportunity to don their finest clothes and sang and danced to their hearts’ content (Spencer, 1974, p. 2). She went on to explain that ‘Crop Over’ was signalled by the beating of a make-shift gong when the last canes had been reaped. Not long after, the very mill yard where the sweat dripped from their brows for months and where their weariness was spurned transformed into a parade scene. A woman wearing white with a bandana around her head and flowers adorning, sang and danced into the yard. Behind her would follow other labourers with decorated carts, the sign of a triumphant season (Spencer, 1974, p. 3). It is for this reason that the present day Crop Over festival still pays tribute to this with the decorated cart parades and the ‘Delivery of the last canes’.
So the question must now be asked: How did Crop Over then become what we know today? The answer is linked to the very thing that started it all: sugar. By the early twentieth century, the sugar industry in Barbados was in decline because of factors such as increasing competition on the world market and lack of technological advancement to keep up with the competition. As a result, by the time World War 2 was underway in the 1940s, the sugar industry was already a shell of its former self and most mills and sugar factories closed their doors. It is suggested that the plantation parties never truly ended but they no doubt dwindled in number with time. However, thanks to written and oral accounts, we can still take a trip down memory lane and discover what Crop Over festivities of the past looked like.
As previously mentioned, the evening was one jam packed with entertainment, with performances, music and of course consumption of strong drinks like kill-devil (rum), falernum. After all, these sugar by-products were the fruits of their labour. Tantalizing food was eaten including “pork, bread, pone and cassava bakes (or cassava hats), salt fish cutters and as the years went by, ham cutters” (Spencer, 1974, p. 4).
The evening was simply not complete without games, the more active, the better. One such game was the greased pole, one which the most adventurous of young men would endeavour to try. A rope was greased and hung while a pile of trash was placed at the foot of the mill. The participants would then take turns climbing the rope in a valiant attempt to capture the prize at the top of the rope: a bank note! Of course, many tried but most failed with as many as 20 men sliding down off the slippery rope onto the pile of trash on the ground. The lucky man who successfully reached the top would no doubt leave the party smiling a little brighter, having grabbed a monetary bonus for the season.
The women were not left out of the slip and slide contests. You see, catching the greased pig was possibly the most entertaining and silly act of the Crop Over plantation customs. A piglet was well greased, after which all of the competitors, mostly women, attempted to capture it. As one could imagine, it was quite the spectacle to watch as the ladies often ended up just as greasy as the slippery animal. In reminiscing, Stoute relayed an amusing anecdote related to this game, one that simply had to be shared:
“I remember on one occasion an elderly woman put her long dress over the piglet and then sat down, but the piglet was too greasy and fast for her with the result that she ended up flat on her back with her two legs in the air” (Stoute, 27 May, 1979, p. 11)
I can only imagine the laughter that permeated the air at the sight!
One past tradition, that maybe should remain one of the past, was stick-licking. Two men armed with four foot long sticks engaged each other in a rudimentary version of fencing. According to Stoute, these sticks were known as “ockya” because they came from a tree by that name and dried for this purpose (Stoute, 27 May, 1979, p. 11). Ever so often, things took a left turn when one of the participants got cut, shifting the activity from a fight with sticks to one with blows. However, we have to admit that stick-licking was a thrilling game, with the winner being the individual who managed to hit their opponent with the ockya.
So have we simply abandoned all of these old traditions? Not quite. In 1974, Crop Over was revitalised and reimagined. That very year, events similar to those recounted above were held at different locations on the island. For instance, Spring Hall Plantation in St. Lucy was the place to be on June 8, with ten thousand Barbadians flocking to the northern side of the island to relish in the activities of the day (Barbados Advocate, 11 June, 1974, p. 5). As expected, these included the unmistakable rhythms of the Tuk Band and performances by stiltment and dance groups. But also incorporated were the greasy pole, catch the greased pig and of course, stick-licking!
So have we really forgotten where it all started? Is it now nothing more than revelry? I have to admit that sadly, most individuals who take to the road for Foreday Morning and Grand Kadooment do not know or even care about ‘the reason for the season’. It is, thus, necessary to pull the past and present together to meet the needs of current and future generations while still celebrating Crop Over in a uniquely and authentically Bajan way. The story of a sugared past should not be a secondary thought but the main focus.
However, one thing is crystal clear to me. There has been at least one consistency with Crop Over past and Crop Over present and that is: the unbridled desire to release emotions and the forgetting of one’s troubles. When I asked one young individual what Crop Over means to them, they said they equate it to a release of emotions, a feeling of exhilaration embodied in the paint, water, colours, laughs, music and all around ‘good vibes’. It was a chance to rinse off the tensions of work, school and more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic. That feeling is not far removed from those of yesteryear who took the opportunity to unwind and relax. Imagine the yearning they felt as they got closer and closer to the end of the harvest, the thoughts of a big celebration driving them on. In sum, the start of the festival may have been sugar but at its core was the desire to feel free, even just for a day. A Complete Release of Pressure: I’d say that is at the root of Crop-Over!
Bibliography
“A Harvest Home Feast”. The Barbadian. July 24, 1858, 3.
“Barbados Ups Last Year’s Sugar Crop by 26,000 Tons”. The Barbados Advocate. June 16, 1951, 1.
“Response Overwhelming to Festival in St. Lucy”. The Barbados Advocate. June 11, 1974, 5.
Spencer, F (1974). An Old Barbadian Plantation Festival. Commonwealth Caribbean Centre.
“What is a Kadooment”. The Advocate Magazine. May 27, 1979, 11.