Accompong Maroons celebrate 278th anniversary of peace treaty with Britain
Accompong Town, St Elizabeth— Maroons and their guests came from across Jamaica and all over the world for last week’s January 6 celebrations marking the 278th anniversary of the signing of a peace treaty with British colonisers.
Several hours were spent in the shade of the Kindah Tree at Accompong, dancing and chanting to the beat of Maroon drums. Many people just sat and relaxed under the ancient mango tree which is said to have provided shade as Maroons plotted strategies and resolved differences as far back as 300 years ago.
Some Maroons took the trek to ancestral grounds — which on every January 6 are closed to visitors — for secret rituals.
The return to the Kindah (one family) from the ancestral grounds signalled the sharing of unsalted pork and ground provisions. Maroons jostled each other for even a taste of the ritually cooked food which folklore holds brings good luck for the new year.
Maroons are the descendants of black slaves owned by Spanish colonisers who fled Jamaica on the arrival of the British in 1655. Armed by their former owners, the ex slaves fled to rugged, densely forested terrain extending from the Blue Mountains in the east to the Cockpit Country in the west.
Reinforced by runaway slaves from British sugar plantations, the Maroons fought the British using guerrilla-style tactics for more than 80 years until peace was agreed and a treaty signed in the late 1730s. That treaty is celebrated every year on January 6. The Leeward (western) Maroons — from whom today’s Accompong Maroons are descended — were the first to agree to peace with the British followed by the Windward (eastern) Maroons.
The afternoon stretched into evening in Accompong and the formal section of the latest January 6 celebrations closed with a lengthy civic ceremony. There were plenty of speeches as well as drumming, dancing and chanting. Drawn by the drums, visitors joined the dancing including Opposition Leader Andrew Holness.
Here, Jamaica Observer photographer Gregory Bennett captures some of the highlights.
— Garfield Myers
