Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/4742/-1/135/
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Large Crowd Welcome Kalinago Canoe People
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Some fifteen hundred people in Anguilla, many being school children, converged at Road Bay on Monday evening, May 21, and gave a arousing welcome to the crew of the Gli-Gli” of the Carib Canoe Project, now on a Leeward Islands Expedition.
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The Gli-Gli canoe sailing into Road Bay
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The expedition route being travelled by the crew of twelve Dominican Caribs, representing the Kalinago people, takes in Antigua to the Virgin Islands via Nevis and St. Kitts, St. Barths, St. Maarten/St. Martin and Anguilla then crossing the Anegada Passage to Tortola during this month, May.
The voyage is being undertaken to celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of GLi-Gli’s creation and to continue the mission of its 1997 expedition from Dominica to Guyana by symbolically reuniting the Carib descendents of the Leeward Islands.
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The visiting Caribs in musical performance
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The expedition is intended to draw attention to the role the Carib tribe played in the region’s history and culture and to promote the recognition of the Caribbean’s largest surviving indigenous tribe.
Throughout the expedition, the crew will be presenting slide and video shows about the Gli Gli Carib Canoe Project and traditional musical performances as well as demonstrating their traditional craft for schools and heritage groups.
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At Road Bay after trip from St. Maarten
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At the welcome ceremony at Road Bay, the enthusiastic crowd was treated with some memorable drumming by a group of the visiting Caribs.
Anguilla’s Director of Youth and Culture, Lennox Proctor, welcomed the visitors on behalf of the Government and people of the island. “I would like to thank you very much for making this journey,” he told them. “It is a matter of education and dispelling all the myths and stereotypes that have plagued the Kalinago people and others. The journey has a lot of significance in that it symbolises strength, endurance and continuity – those values that we find very dear in Anguilla.”
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A section of the large crowd in attendance
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The ceremony was chaired by Executive Director of the National Trust of Anguilla, Damien Hughes, who joined in welcoming the canoe crew.
Crew member, Jacob Frederick, an artist and activist of Carib culture, addressed the ceremony on behalf of his colleagues. “We are very happy to be here,” he said to the cheering throng. “Most of these small islands are not aware of our existence and we want you to know that we still exist and that we reside in the north-eastern part of Dominica and are four thousand inhabitants. We still practice some aspects of our culture and we are here to raise the awareness and to commemorate the Tenth Anniversary of the creation of the Gli-Gli project.”
Frederick always dreamed about building a large dug out canoe in the traditional Carib way and retracing the journey of his ancestors. Hundreds of years ago they sailed from the Orinoco Basin in South America and settled in the Caribbean.
In December 1995 a very large tree was felled high in the rainforest of the Carib lands in Dominica and the raw log was later transformed into the hull of a sleek canoe, which is now making the expedition.
A well-equipped supply boat is travelling with the canoe on the expedition. In Anguilla the crew has been accommodated at an apartment in Sandy Ground owned by Sir and Lady Emile Gumbs and at Sydan’s Apartments.
During their visit the crew held various cultural performances and staged a craft exhibition at the grounds of the Agricultural Department. They were also at a press conference where they were welcomed by David Carty, a member of the Anguilla National Trust, who spoke about the cultural history of the Caribs in Anguilla.