Photo by Paul Williams
Ryalston Reid, Maroon elder, has been sounding the abeng for as long as he can remember.

LACOVIA, ST. ELIZABETH:

The sacred space that the cool hilltop district of Accompong Town, St. Elizabeth, occupies in the annals of black history was blessed with the intervention of an intellectual sort, on Saturday, December 5, when scholars from all over the world descended upon what is arguably one of the most famous historical sites in the Western hemisphere.

The occasion was day four of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee/Society for Caribbean Research/Institute of Jamaica Bicentenary Conference under the theme, 'Discourses of Resistance: Culture, Identity, Freedom and Reconciliation'.

Days one to three were convened at Half Moon Hotel and Spa, Montego Bay, St. James.

Colonel Sydney Peddie of the Accompong Maroons welcomed the guests to the community, and after brief greetings and introductions, presentations of conference memorabilia, white rum, books on Maroon history and heritage, CDs were given to the leaders of five Maroon communities in Jamaica. University of the West Indies' Professor Verene Shepherd, chair of the Bicentennial Committee, said the gifts were a gesture of giving back to the Maroons, the subject of much research.

Tour of the land

After the spewing of white rum and hypnotic drumming, visitors were taken on a tour of the land that Cudjoe once trod. They gathered under the Kinda tree and listened attentively as a tour guide retold the exploits of the great maroon leader and his lieutenants.

But, the high point of the day, despite the scholarly papers presented after, was the food. More so the seasoned 'turned cornmeal' and bammy, washed down by limeade.

As darkness started to cloak the place where our ancestors lived and died, the visitors were given another feast; this time of music and dance, before they embarked on their journey from the journey.

- Paul H. Williams. Email: paul.williams@gleanerjm.com