Crop over

A festival holding costumes, foods, clothing, music and much more, crop over became a tradition for everyone to love. This Festival is a tradition which has been celebrated by my family and many other “Bajans” like myself. Starting in June and ending in August this two month long celebration not only just holds fun but, holds a deeper meaning behind what is celebrated but throughout the years.

Cropover eventually became apart of the Barbadian culture as a celebration of fun and activities.

Crop over started as far back at the 1780’s and marked a period in which the ending of the sugar cane season came to a close. During the 1780’s Barbados was one of the worlds largest sugar cane distributors. When crop over was over this did not just mean that the hard work and labor has come to a halt for a little which but it also meant that many people will eventually come to either work less or lose work. For many the interval between two crops would indeed have been "hard times", and the symbol of these, perhaps not invented until after Emancipation, was the figure of a man stuffed with trash (the dried leaves of the sugar cane plant) which was known as "Mr. Harding" (History of Crop over). They eventually show the manager of the sugar cane collection “My. Harding” and then they burn it in honor of the ending of the season.

My great grandmother told me during the late 1930’s the crop over traditions eventually started to slowly change and it wasn’t the same as it was when she was a child. She has no problem with the way things have changed but she wished it would somewhat go back to the old times. My great grandmother used to tell me story of when she was a little kid, after a hard days works she would come home sit down for a mean with h...

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...nd my family members because if we are not able to go to Barbados for the Harvest festival we compensate it for the Labor day parade

When I eventually have kids i will allow them to visit where it all began. My children will be allowed to go to barbados dress up and parade around the island as I once did as a child. This experience is great for the interaction in order to get to know one's culture along with the meaning behind it.

For many years to come I am sure crop over will always have a lasting effect on Barbados. It is apart of the the vulture even though it has changed throughout the decades and centuries. There is no guarantee that the same way my great grandmother, my mother and i have celebrated Crop over will be the same but i am hoping that i will never lose its true meaning .

Works Cited

http://www.bajanfuhlife.com/cropover/history_of_crop_over.html