The chosen theme for the 40th anniversary of Saint Lucia’s Independence is: “All In. Our Journey, our Future.” Last Thursday the Independence committee convened a special meeting to update the press on several upcoming activities. The calendar of activities began last December and celebrations are due to culminate on December 12, 2019.
Committee member and former House Speaker Rosemary Husbands-Mathurin addressed the religious aspect of the celebrations. She said the number 40 held special significance. “We start with, a 40-day fast of prayer and healing for Saint Lucia,” she announced. “So we start on Monday 14 and we end on February 21. We’re asking the whole nation to fast. We did not identify a particular type of fast because people have different issues, health and otherwise.”
She encouraged those unable to fast full meals to at least abstain from meat and substitute it with something like peas, or simply set aside quiet time to pray. She asked that an hour in the day be chosen to “fast from words” and be silent. “A deliberate hour,” she added. “Don’t say, ‘Okay, well I can fast maybe before I go to bed.’ It’s not so deliberate, it just happens to be that an hour before you go to bed, you have nobody to talk to.”
She asked persons to fast for at least two days, or based on the number of letters in their initials. For each of the six weeks during the fast, there will be special gatherings every Saturday for prayer sessions.
Adrian Augier is also on the Independence committee. He spoke about a 75-minute stage production to be held at the National Cultural Centre on Thursday February 21. “It speaks to our ambition as a nation and the fact that our size has not deterred us from playing a major role in not only our own making, but in the making of world history as well.”
The director is the Cultural Development Foundation’s Drenia Frederick, the musical director is Gregory Piper, and choreographers include Trevor King, Theresa Collymore, Shakina President-Beckford and Barry George. Augier says the production will be driven largely by dance and movement, with linking scenes using narrative prose and poetry.
Augier described the second major event, scheduled for Friday February 22, as a “carnival style” parade that will feature various aspects of Saint Lucian life such as commerce, sport, culture and art. He invited all interested participants to come forward with moving portrayals of their work, “to come celebrate Saint Lucia and its diversity”.
The full calendar of events and further information can be accessed on the committee’s website at www.independence.lc or on its Facebook page: IndependenceSlu40.
