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History relived at 40th VI-USVI Friendship Day
The two Territories relived those memories at activities held on the sister island of Virgin Gorda in celebration of the 40th Annual VI-USVI Friendship day on June 29, 2013.
This is the first year that the activities were held on Virgin Gorda and the support was overwhelming. Several persons from the USVI accompanied their Governor Honourable John P. de Jongh Jr. and together with Virgin Islanders they flooded Virgin Gorda to share time in ceremony, friendly gestures, tours and reflecting on the good old days.
The memories of the past were the highlights of the ceremonial aspects of things and were done through dramatisation.
History relived
During the 1940's and after World War II, Virgin Islanders were drawn closer together as many persons from the Virgin Islands worked in the USVI.
Back then the VI used to produce a large amount of livestock such as pigs, cows and goats and was also a large producer of fish. Fruits like mangoes, guava, sugar apple and sour sop were popular on the VI market, it was said. The USVI was also said to have always been a “little ahead” and St. Thomas in particular was the market place for VI produce.
Families from both groups of islands survived the hardship of that time because of the close relationships that developed during those regular interactions. Some people got married, others formed lifelong friendships and some Virgin Islanders even took up residence in the USVI, particularly in St. Thomas. It was said that many persons moved their children to the USVI in order to give them a chance at secondary education since the VI did not have a high school until up to 1942.
The gathering of persons were told that “back in the days”, Virgin Islanders went to the USVI to buy clothes, shoes and utensils and the USVI would come over to these islands for the social side of their life. They particularly looked forward to the August festival, horse racing, picnics and the harvest festivals.
Apart from sending goods for sale, it was also common to see Virgin Islanders sending “parcels” to their relatives, many of whom worked in St. Thomas or had taken up residence there.
That was just a tip of the history that formed the rich 40-year-old friendship between the USVI and VI.
Having digested that bit of history, friends from both Territories were treated to live entertainment in the Friendship Day Village, which featured Leon and the Hot Shots, the Elite Sky Dancers, Bregado Flax Educational Centre, Robinson O'Neal Primary and Claudia O. Creque Educational, who all provided live musical entertainment.
The plotting of the family tree chart was another interesting feature of the day.
Lunch treat at the Rosewood Little Dix Bay Resort brought the curtains down on the celebration of VI-USVI Friendship Day 2013.
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17 Responses to “History relived at 40th VI-USVI Friendship Day”
..Ahhhhh, I think my family tree would be somewhere on the ....
Ooops..Cannot reveal who Ausar is..
and he never saw it fit to do. It tells me we had poor representation for too long. I am convice this
would have never under ralph vision like so many other things.
No wonder North Sound and some parts look the way it look, like 1932.
Thanks to some people with a little vision more people an see beautiful virgin gorda and not not to keep
it in the dark.
Ralph should be ashame of himself while he was there taking his needed napps.
We can talk a lot about how many area in the BVI look and believe me it has nothing to do with the representation of any of those districts but has everything to do with the people and property owners of the areas who just don't want to be told that they cannot do what they want with their property.
As far as keeping this event on Virgin Gorda or any other out island for that matter, it has always been more convenient as far as logistics and cost to hold it on Tortola and the organizers should be applauded for pulling of and event so packed with protocol effortlessly.
For the many independant thinkers out there, this is old school and you need to try a different angle because this will not work. We who were around in 1932 certainly know that Virgin Gorda does not look the way it did then and YOU should be ashamed of yourself.