Today I celebrated my first Festival at St. John. This is very similar to the Carnival celebration held on St. Thomas every April. Evidently St. John has their Festival on the 4th of July every year, but there's a lot of stuff I've been learning that sets the Virgin Island holidays apart from the rest of America.
For example, July 3rd is actually Emancipation Day, which is also a holiday for the islands. Emancipation Day commemorates the freedom of the slaves in the Virgin Islands, which were under Danish rule at the time (1848, a good while before any slaves were freed in the United States). So, there's your history lesson.
Anyway, I set out to see the sights and hear the sounds of St. John's Festival, so I will share some of that with you:
Festival/Carnival village
Steel drum band, of course!
This little girl on the stilts really stole the show.
Majorettes of many ages with beautiful costumes.
Traditional Carnival costume
Oh, the fishnets.
So obviously I have been keeping busy with my St. John adventures, but don't worry-- I'll keep updating with more!
Until next time,
Steph
