by Ros Martin
See this picture? My mother recalls scenes like these, growing up in St Lucia women hard at work, carrying coal on the harbour-side. See the weight? See the pipe ? One old penny for a basket, remember the old coinage: pounds, shillings and pence?
Disgruntled, the women go on strike. Hurray!
A testament to the human spirit flourishing under duress,
And I am here, because my African ancestors & Caribbean ancestors survived/ no thrived due to an extraordinary feat of will.
And you N20?
probable male age 45- 70 years at time of your death( based on eruption of third molars, severe dental wear & endocrinal suture closure)
‘Dental carries evident in 4 teeth
Six teeth are missing ante-mortem’
What do you recall? What are you bequeathed of your own ancestor’s history and heritage?
Silence?
That was mine, from my late Nigerian father, concerning his own family story......
I’ve dug, to discover so many things....
You don’t just survive, oh no! You thrive.
You make up songs as you work.
Isotopes suggest locally born
.......All arm bones show extreme muscle markings on both arms
......No rest for the weary, that’s what she’d say, my mother......
As she sang around the house
sad songs, joyous songs, work-songs just sing
......hymns, mostly.
Music heals.
It transports the mind, the spirit. I dance, she sings
Diet; very similar throughout life C4 plants & animals, plus significant amount
of marine fish/predators....’
Flying fish, shark bakes, ackee & salt fish, salt fish patties. Fish, how I love fish!
....Transportation is an African spirit of inventiveness, in rituals song, parables, masquerade, you express your whole being: all the sadness, all the joy... you revisit sites of memory.
Hostages......a community under siege,
That incessant beat of the drum; .. pum, pum, pum, pum, hypnotic.
you give thanks
for blessings
for life
for health
for food to eat,
for births,
for deaths
In this world you are born in, you live you procreate, you die
Nature, behold
It’s a cycle of life
You cultivate the land, you cultivate a richer, deeper sense of humanity.
You see it around you, what it is and what it is NOT!
We create our own humanity in whatever situations we are in to make life richer, poorer
(beat)
So you sing, you dance to the beat of the drum, you are alive, you acutely feel what it to be human because you know, because you know...
"I was born a slave, but nature gave me the soul of a free man’’
"I was born a slave, but nature gave me the soul of a free man’’
(Toussaint Louverture)
You utter to yourself repeatedly. You pass those words on to your progeny...
There lies the seed of resistance. The soul thriving, overcoming bondage
You behold & worship the gods of nature: the sun, moon, the stars. You bid the tree & forest river spirits watch over you, in handed down memories from home.
A community.....When one suffers, we all suffer
You hum
You, unnamed, numbered, buried; now resurrected from the soil of your toils in Newton plantation, Barbados, Finca Clavijo, Gran Canaria, bone fragments of decaying overworked bones & malnourished teeth.
I am reclaiming you to honour you, your spirit, the spirit of enslaved ancestors
pause), Listen. You take your place in this city,........I take a deep breath, I marvel ... that you a slave are truly the architect of the modern world.
Ancestral spirits come.