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It’s Day 11 of 11 Days of SXM. With that being said, I want to wish everyone a Happy Saint Martin’s Day. Whether we are home or ah foreign, I want us to take this day to celebrate ourselves, our history and our culture. In honour of this great day, I want to share this poem/monologue that I wrote:  O Sweet Saint Martin by Kamilah Gumbs
O sweet, Sweet Saint Martin Land So beautiful in your glory So grand From the 37 beaches All for each mile Where the young, old give their speeches Professing their love, joy For this o sweet Saint Martin Land A land of division and unity French, Dutch, but the song say though talketh English much. From the rolling hills and bustling piers To the music of the string band Playing under the magnificent Flamboyant. Jam Bands filling the streets Stews, Soups, BBQ and Johnny cakes filling up we belly. O sweet Saint Martin land Land of which my ancestors bled Land of which my ancestors fled To the hills looking for freedom. O sweet Saint Martin land Home of the one tete Lokay Yess the massa chop off her breast. O my sweet Saint Martin land Where my people were dropped off at Galis Bay Cut the sugar in all the estates Working the salt ponds, from Grandcase Great Bay. But O, my sweet Saint Martin land Home of the free With a Brim With a Shoot And one serious Ponum, Ponum, Ponum. Where we shout through the hills Abe a mancipation' But my O sweet Saint Martin land Still bounded by the colonizers hand. Tug and pull, cry and yell Songs of pain Songs of sadness Songs of resistance Songs of freedoms As our people move through the land Praying for our rights Our sweet Saint Martin land Comforts us at night No matter how far we go How long we go O sweet Saint Martin Land, Will always be home. Before we officially end the 11 Days of SXM, I would like to say thank you! A major thank you and shout out to our Sxm Creatives: Double D, Fafiélla, Resma, Guilda, Jharna, Zahra, Neha, Bianca and Shanica and Lisa (Say Less Sis). Thank you for allowing me for using my small platform to show appreciation! To the rest of you creatives, be on the lookout because it isn’t over. Big thanks to my parents, who contributed greatly to the food section, especially with the Johnny Cakes! Major thanks so my friends in my WhatsApp contacts. I appreciate every repost and share that you’ve done in the past and over these last 10 days. A super-duper, duper thank you to two of my friends, Nian and Tori. If it wasn’t for your guys countless support, advice and recommendations, this would’ve not happened. Thank you so much once again! And to all the followers and readers, whether old or new, Thank You! There wouldn’t be any IslandGalTing without you guys! Well, that’s the end of 11 DAYS OF SAINT MARTIN 2020, and I’m looking forward to see you for my next post! With much love, IslandGalTing
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 The official national dance of Saint Martin is one of the most expressive, groundbreaking, and vibrant dance that’s out there. The Ponum, originated around the time of emancipation, as former slaves used the arts of dance and song to express the pain and joys of freedom. Since then, the dance was regularly performed after salt harvest, or at parties. Unfortunately, throughout the mid 20th century, the dance was almost lost as the focus of the island shifted more to developing to cater to tourists than preserving our island’s culture. During the ’90s and early 2000s, the dance was brought back to the forefront of the island through the efforts of the then Imbali Dance School (now known as the National Institue of Arts). Now, students are taught the dance as well as the important history behind it. Sint Maarten Unesco alongside the Department of Communication partnered to document the importance and the history of the Ponum dance in this short documentary: https://fb.watch/1A0YJsOlca/. If you haven’t seen this before, I urge everyone to watch it as it gives great insight into The Ponum dance. I titled this post, a lesson from the Ponumn Dance for a very specific reason. We are currently living in a peak era where the majority of the world is fighting for their basic human rights. As the Black Lives Matter movement set precedent for a fight in governmental change and how they treat their populations. The continent of Africa has seen a plight of protests urging for human rights as well. Now you might be asking, what does that have to do with us in Saint Martin, and what does that have to with the Ponum? In the context of our beautiful island, we have to remember something, we are still two colonies under the Netherlands and France. No matter how much more ‘power’ we got or what fancy title we have, we are still under the control of the white man. For many of us who are younger millennials or gen z, we are only truly now being able to see how these powers behave. A lot of our eyes were opened after the response we got from hurricane Irma. While military forces were there to aid after the hurricane, it took a long time (on both sides) for the monetary aid to be provided. The same issues that we are seeing with the Covid-19 pandemic. It just proves that to these powers that the value of items is more important to them than the livelihood of the people. The Ponum is a dance of freedom but also tells the pain of the enslaved. The dance was used as a way of liberation and push for new change for our ancestors. Of course, after 200+ years, we haven’t received the full freedom that is needed, but the main goal is to strive for it. So the lesson from the Ponum dance is liberation. Let’s quickly break it down and explain how it can be utilized in the context of Saint Martin. Liberation (noun): the act or process of freeing a country or a person from the control of somebody else. [Oxford English Dictionary] So I know you are saying to yourself, not another discussion on independence. I am here to tell you this is not what we are going for right now. While the end goal is to become an independent country, we have to sit down and sort out the trash in our back yard (Alexa play Backyard Dutty by King Kembe). Every year we love to sing “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery’ but what are you actually doing to break that. For so long we’ve held tight to a lot of colonial views and mindsets that have been utilized to morph the characteristics of our ancestors. We love to preach that we are all for the liberation of our people, but we’ve been stuck in the same ways. Here are some ways we can clean up our back yard:
While this isn’t everything that would push us forward to our main goal, these are some personal things that we can work on. Our institutions such as government and schools have to be held accountable. Simple questions such as the way students handle at learning institutions, to our environment, to the lack of livable wages are ones that we have to continuously ask our elected officials. If it’s one thing we aren’t great at is holding the politicians we like accountable, and that also needs to change now. Sidenote, the island being super capitalistic is a major issue, but that’s for another post. To wrap up, the Ponum dance urges liberation. In order to be liberated, we have to do some self-reflection and decolonize the systems that govern us. From there, we can take the bigger step what is needed, independence. I also encourage everyone to watch the Parliament meetings that speak on decolonization and engage in conversations around this topic. That was Day 5, see you tomorrow for Day 6!!  To start off the 11 DAYS OF SAINT MARTIN, we will be highlighting seven eras of Saint Martin’s history and how it has shaped us as people. Located in the northeastern Caribbean, Sint Maarten (Dutch)/ Saint Martin (French) is a two-state island full of vibrance. At the small size of 37 sq miles, the island plays an integral part in world history through its manufacturing of salt, as an international hub for the northeastern Caribbean, and its overall uniqueness.
Couple hundred years and a ton of European wars later, the French, the English and the Dutch wanted the island due to its geographical location. In 1631 the Dutch said ‘hey this is mine now’ and built them a fort, Fort Amsterdam, at present-day Little Bay. However, in typical European fashion, war is war, and the Spanish ran the Dutch and the French (who were chilling the colonist way) and took claim of the island by building the Spanish Fort in now present Point Blanche. After some back and forth (throw in a couple of English lads), and the Spanish abandoned the island due to economic reasons. The Dutch and French ran back to take claim of the island.
This was just a brief overview of the island of Saint Martin and what makes us special. For the next 11 days, IslandGalTing will be highlighting the greatness of the island through history, cuisine and creatives. Make sure to follow our twitter and instagram @islandgalting for all things Saint Martin Day and all things IslandGalTing. |
11 DaysIslandGalTing is counting down to Saint Martin's Day with 11 days of history, food , creatives and fun. Sections |
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