The Island of Montserrat Celebrates St. Patrick's Day

KISS ME I’M MONTSERRATIAN

Montserrat, West Indies – January 31, 2008 – Attending parades, wearing the color green and drinking beer at the neighborhood pub are all customs associated with the typical celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. However, the island of Montserrat has different festivities in mind. The only nation in the world outside of Ireland to recognize St. Patrick’s Day as a national holiday, Montserratians shake up St. Patty’s Day Caribbean style by infusing their African and Irish heritage into their celebrations. This year, the festivities will take place March 8 – 17, 2008. 

 Residents and visitors alike take part in a week of feasts, parades, concerts, cultural exhibitions and outdoor theater productions to commemorate the planned slave uprising that occurred on the island during St. Patrick’s Day in 1768.  Activities include national exhibitions showcasing history, art and literature, a kite festival, Junior Calypso Monarch Competition, Freedom Walk and Run, Heritage Day & Feast and annual St. Patrick’s Day church service and dinner.  There is also a slave village constructed in Little Bay that features individually decorated slave huts and a slave feast offering samples of local traditional foods, such as goat water, stewed yard fowl and bush tea.  Local bars and restaurants also celebrate in the more traditional Irish way by serving Guinness and decorating with shamrocks and plenty of green.

Of all the Caribbean islands, Montserrat is the only one to boast a noticeable Irish heritage.  The island was a haven for Irish Catholics who had once served as indentured servants in the British West Indies and the influence of their culture is still felt today.  The harp and female figure on the flag and official seal of Montserrat are derived from the Irish heraldy and in the southern region of the island, there is even a village named St. Patrick’s (located in the exclusion zone).  Goat water, the national dish made of kid or mutton and spiced with cloves and rum, is believed to hail from the original Emerald Isle.  The Irish legacy is present in the folklore, surnames and even the local speech, which is laced with Irish brogue. 

This British overseas territory boasts the spectacular Soufrière Hills Volcano, a modern day Pompeii in the form of its buried former capital city Plymouth, alongside lush, green mountains, world-class nature trails, secluded dark sand beaches, untouched reefs and a quiet friendly charm reminiscent of the way the Caribbean used to be.  For more information on Montserrat and its breathtaking scenery and unspoiled, unpolluted coral and volcanic vistas, visit www.visitmontserrat.com.

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