Salaka feast honours ancestors

The ancestors were honoured through dance, song and gifts at Pembroke's Salaka Feast on Monday night at the Pembroke Heritage Park.

The Salaka Feast, one of the events in the Tobago Heritage festival calendar, focuses on the legacy of the ancestors and the contribution they made to sculpt the traditions of the island. Tributes were paid specifically to the Igbo and Congo people of Pembroke, through special spiritual dances.

Pembroke, known as the cultural capital of Tobago, presented the crowd with a two-hour production at which some members of the audience attested to being in a trance-like state during the show, engrossed in the dance movements, spiritual "adoptions," chants and songs. The drums and the passion from the dances resonated through the atmosphere.

The turnout was fair compared to previous years and patrons were enthralled by the various rituals.

The corners of the stage were “surveyed” and sweet oils, incense and grains were sprinkled, before the stage was swept using a cocoyea broom as the performers sang spiritual invocations to invite the ancestors.

The predominant message was the importance of listening, having a heart full of love and hands willing to help.

The dance routines were well in sync, powerful and electrifying. The Igbo dancers showed more flirtatious attitudes, while the Congo dancers presented a dance of war.

Fruit, food and gifts were prepared and laid on a table on the stage for the ancestors. The “parent plate” was separately and carefully prepared without the use of salt.

Wendell Berkley, who played an elder, said the feast is held to commemorate the gifts left by the ancestors and to pay tribute. The production, titled Finding Yourself, Returning to your Roots and Tracing your Ancestry, touched on the importance of knowing one's history to find one's true identity. In the production, Sister Mary, a stalwart in the village, played by Dian Reid, passed on knowledge to younger people in the village about the rules of the Salaka Feast and engaging ancestors. The vibrant play was well received by the audience.

Tribute was also paid to a cultural icon in the village, Cecil Jerry, who was hailed for his contribution to keeping the Pembroke heritage alive. Henrietta Murray was honoured for preparing the parent plate and for being one of the longstanding original Congo people of Pembroke.

In his address, chairman of the Festivals Commission George Leacock challenged the Pembroke village council to celebrate the spirit of the ancestors and the village culture not only during heritage time, but every month, and encouraged them to host heritage events more often.