Holiday Season

I am writing today, with a cold severe enough to knock me out whilst trying to put Virginie to nap.  Virginie could not sleep because she was too excited to spend all of her waking hours with her sister Lily who was in their room pretty much swinging from the rafters.  Why, pray tell, are these two people home from school after two and 1/2 weeks off during Spring Break and then a four day weekend for Easter?  Well, it is Heroes' Day here in Barbados, two days after Easter Monday. 


Put the picture in your mind.  After two and a half weeks off of school for Spring Break, the girls went to school for about ten days and then had a long weekend for Easter.  Then, after attending school on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, they are now home with me on Thursday for another holiday.  They will both go to school tomorrow, enjoy Saturday and Sunday with Mommy and Papa and some visitors coming on Saturday and then spend Monday, May Day (Labor Day) at home yet again.  The holiday season in Barbados is full of bank holidays, I think twelve per year which does not include Spring Breaks or Teacher Planning Days.  On each of these days off from school, every facility, grocery store, shop, place of entertainment, everything save the hospitals and medical centers is closed.  Shut down.  Imagine scheduling a holiday vacation in Barbados during this week.  There would be nothing to do and with rainy season seemingly underway a couple of months too early, there has been rain for three days in a row. 


Heroes' Day, begun in 1998 to celebrate ten national heroes, nine men and one woman, who affected change on this nation either through social or political means, always falls on April 28th.  The children in school learn about the heroes and write stories or draw pictures about them and are then give the day off to honor them.  We had a play date and Didier helped a friend take down his family's trampoline for their move this weekend to another part of the island. 


In Barbados and many other parts of the Caribbean, flying kites is part of the Easter tradition.  For weeks before the long holiday weekend (Good Friday through Easter Monday) kites were sold on highways, in grocery stores, hardware shops, out of the backs of cars (trunks/boots, whichever you prefer) in a beautiful array of shapes and colors, made of paper or plastic.  There were color patterns or cartoon characters.  Most kites are made simply with a wooden cross symbolizing the cross on which Christ was crucified and died and the sailing of kites signifies the ascension and connection to the heavens or the divine.  It is truly a beautiful metaphor but also a great chance to get out and fly a kite. 

When is the last time you let a kite go into the air and watched it dance in the wind?  The feeling is exhilarating.  We went with a group of friends on Easter Sunday to Barkley's Park on the east coast of the island where the waves of the Atlantic Ocean swirled and crashed behind us.  We ran on the sand, pulling kites behind us, laughing and chatting and feeling the breeze that whipped up around us.  The sun was intensely hot and it was impossible to stare too long at our kites in the sky without hurting our eyes.  The kids tired long before the adults and at one point, all four kites were being flown by adults while the kids played in the sand.  We stopped in the park across the street for a quick snack and to watch the kids play a game of petanque under the guidance of Didier Virot expert in all things sporting and all things French.  It was so funny to watch him explaining to a group of 2-5 year olds and one 10 year old girl the "rules."  They just wanted to roll the balls which they ultimately ended up doing. 

From there we drove along the coast to Bathsheba to the natural pools.  We all walked through the cave and waded through smaller pools before Didier, the kids, and I cooled ourselves as waves crashed behind us, but never reached us with much force.  Didier and I had driven past this site many times and never realized that the pools were there.  They were such a pleasant surprise and a place we'd love to visit again before leaving Barbados.  Finally, we caravaned to Bath, another oceanside beach, where the waters are actually calm enough to swim in.  Because there were so many Easter celebrations going on, the place was packed, overrun by families and young teenagers throwing water balloons, people liming the day away.  Our little group was obviously a band of outsiders and we were watched and studied as such. While probably quite nice on a regular afternoon, on this day, Bath was no place to chill and relax.  We ended the day here and all went their separate ways as the sun sank lower and lower into the sky. 

Coming from New York where very few days actually qualify as holidays and where even when holidays are celebrated, shops, theaters, restaurants, grocery stores, and pharmacies are opened, it is strange to watch an entire country shut down.  While on one hand I think it is respectful and comforting that traditions are honored, on the other, I think a country with solely one viable industry, tourism, closing for days at a time, nothing opened, not a person in sight who is not liming, sunning, stone cold chillin' is wasting many an opportunity.  While we've enjoyed each other immensely, and bought all of our groceries ahead of time to ensure we'd have everything we liked, sometimes it's nice to have more to do than go fly a kite. 

But I will say this, I have never loved the Easter Bunny, always thinking it bastardized the true imagery of rebirth, fertility, fecundity that the early Christians borrowed from the pagans to emphasize the new beginning of life in Christ, from the Old Testament to the New.  A big, cartoonish oaf with a bow tie and goofy face delivering eggs, chocolate, and Peeps to children.  I could let go of that tradition this moment.  But kite flying at Easter, wherever we go in the world, will remind us of those special days in Barbados when we were with friends and loved ones soaring.




(c)  Copyright 2011.  City Mom in the Jungle.