The Breadfruit Festival: A first of its kind in St Lucia, under the auspices of the Anglican Church

By Caribbean News Global contributor

CASTRIES, St Lucia – The Parish of Holy Trinity Anglican Church and St Mary the Virgin in La Caye Dennery, will observe Emancipation this year from Sunday 31 July to Saturday 6 August 2022.

The Strategic Planning team announced that in this year’s observance of the National Theme “Enkindling our Consciousness” has been adopted. The team also announced several sub-themes of the event.

The Festival will feature lectures addressing subjects on peoples of African descent and the indigenous peoples during post Emancipation era. The other sub-themes include:

Theme 1:   Historical background on Slavery and Emancipation via portrayal and educational medium including discussion and lectures;

Theme 2:    Food Nutrition, Food Security and culinary benefits;

Theme 3:    Manufactured items and uses of Bread-fruit and Breadnut ( Bois Pain et Chatayne);

Theme 4:    The way forward with future research and sustainability of the event and a citation for policymakers.

Archdeacon Christian Glasgow, head of the Anglican church and chair of the committee says that the Breadfruit Festival is specifically geared within the context of the Marks of Mission of the Anglican Church.

The marks of Mission are reflected in the summary:

Archdeacon Glasgow explains that while the Marks of Mission are clear, “the Church recognizes at the same time the issues of food security and food nutrition and how as a nation we ought to encourage the conduct of behaviour that can assist with the safeguard of our environment in a sustainable manner.”

The Breadfruit Festival will be held at the Anglican school Annex on Holy Trinity Church Road in Castries – the alma mater of Sir Arthur Lewis and several prominent Saint Lucians – will take the form of an exhibition, cooking demonstrations and a display of a range of bi-products from cottage type industries wines and liqueurs and display of research material as well as entertainment from folklore groups.

David Jordan, chair of FRIEETAD in the OECS Inc., and a member of the team, said:

“ The Church in its celebration will pay tribute to the Breadfruit and has coined the event a Breadfruit and Breadnut Festival which is the first of its kind; we recognize Breadfruit as a nutritional staple in peoples diet, which impacts positively on the health of the nation. While this is a staple in the diet of many it is now known that several cottage-type industries have emerged and whether it is breadfruit flour and/or confectionery or the discovery of medicinal uses, as alternate medicine – it is also noted that in the years gone by, furniture was produced from the breadfruit tree and even today, it is still being done even though not as common as before”.

Cecil Charles a third member of the strategic planning team, said:

“ We have a major role in carving out a niche in hosting such an event which has a powerful message to project in terms of feeding the nation and at the same time awakening the consciousness of our entire nation. The youth is of particular interest as we promote a message to include the youth and the entire nation “ to eat what we grow,” added, “We cannot lose sight of this powerful message even if the event is competing for attention during the Carnival season.”

The Strategic Planning team has announced that several private sector and public sector entities are supporting the event including major private sector and university research interests.

Chair of FRIEETAD in the OECS Inc., Jordan, said: 

“For the 43rd independence anniversary, we paid attention to the Banana Festival. We were and are still very happy to have seen the ministry of agriculture recognizing its critical role in replication a Banana expo later in the year and subsequently hosting a Mango Festival. The Church in its mission was happy to blazé the trail in encouraging the population at large to collectively work together to address the needs of the country amidst the challenges we face as a nation.”

Contacts:

The Anglican Church Community and the general public wishing to participate can still contact:

David Jordan: email: Chairmanfrieetad@gmail.com  +1 758 285 3260.  

Cecil Charles: +1 758 730 0286 or the Church Office: +1 758 452 4485.