One of the best tropical vacation spots you can vist for the holidays is Sait Lucia.
The end of one calendar year and the start of another provides an opportunity for reflection, gratitude and purposeful commitment to renewal. It seems only natural that the month of December should be associated with celebration and feasting.
In Saint Lucia, the December Festivals are a series of traditional and historical festivities which bring Saint Lucians together in the spirit of community, celebration and rebirth. In fact, Saint Lucia’s National Day is December 13th, the feast day of Saint Lucy, who happens to be the Catholic patron saint of light.
In ancient calendars, Saint Lucy’s feast once coincided with the shortest day of winter which is why it was considered a festival of light, “a beacon of brightness” in the darkest time of year. The December Festivals, with their collective theme of devotion and celebration, were a precursor to this major feast.
Today, the December Festivals are an eclectic mix of Saint
Lucian culture that merges into a spirit-filled, contemporary
celebration of the Christmas Season. The three main events are:
• The Lantern Festival Around this time in years gone
by, families would hang lanterns on their balconies in honour of the island’s patron saint. The Lantern Festival keeps this tradition alive through a showcase of lantern- making, where children, adults, artists, families and schools test their creative skills and compete for titles. The lanterns are judged and prizes are awarded, with special
consideration given to the skill level employed in the
creations.
• The Festival of Carols Music is a form of emotional expression which never fails to lift spirits and inspire. Through the Festival of Carols, vocalists, chorales and choirs from around the island, and across denominations,
congregate and lift their voices in celestial chorus which truly captures the spirit of the festive season.
• The Festival of Light Throughout human history, light has been used as a metaphor for progression toward the
attainment of knowledge, and as a symbol of rebirth and hope. In Saint Lucia, the Festival of Light celebrates the close of a year with a spirit of gratitude for the blessings of the past and a hopeful heart of “goodwill and prosperity”
for the year ahead.
SCHEDULE FOR DECEMBER FESTIVALS 2014
Saturday, December 6th at 4:00pm The Lantern Festival, Castries
The annual competition showcasing lantern-making creativity takes place at the National Cultural Centre at Barnard Hill in the island’s capital.
Sunday, December 7th at 7:15pm The Festival of Carols, Gros Islet To start the gathering, lantern bearers will lead the groups in a singing procession through the streets of Gros Islet to Saint Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Church.
Friday, December 12th at 4:00pm The Festival of Light, Castries
The festivities will begin with a traditional street masquerade from 4:00pm at the Derek Walcott Square, followed at 7:30pm by a seasonal concert incorporating music, dancing, drama and lights. Lanterns will be on public display around the Square throughout the evening. The much-anticipated “switching on of the lights” will take place at 9:30pm, followed by a celebratory fireworks
display. Patrons will be encouraged to purchase goodwill lanterns for participation in a procession to Castries Harbour for a ritual floating of lanterns.
Sponsors of the festival are ECGC.
Another Cool Event Is
The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) is an annual transatlantic sailing competition for racing and cruising yachts, which was introduced in 1986 and has been crossing the finishing line at Rodney Bay in Saint Lucia for the past twenty-four years.
This year the start horn sounds on Sunday, November 23rd in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, and more than 200 boats are expected hoist their spinnakers for the voyage of 2700 nautical miles across the Atlantic.
The ARC is by all means a race, but the 1200 sailors who sign up are from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds: groups of friends, families with children, sailing couples, big boats and modest boats. Organisers World Cruising Club say ARC “is
more than just a race . . . it’s about friendships made ashore during the pre-departure activities, continued over the radio net at sea. It’s about arriving in Saint Lucia to be met on the dock with a rum punch and a chilled beer, knowing you’ve achieved
something fantastic – crossing an ocean on a small boat.”
And here in Saint Lucia we are all about the warm welcome! As ARC departs Las Palmas on November 23rd, the waters of the Castries Harbour will pack up with more than sixty local boats which come out for the yearly ARC Flotilla to mark the start of the rally. Everything from dinghies to yachts to motorboats to catamarans take part in a morning of social sailing followed by an afternoon party at IGY Rodney Bay Marina, the official ARC finishing line.
Around twelve days later, the winners and early finishers start arriving on our shores to great excitement and a full calendar of events planned to show off the wonders of the island to the ARC sailors and their families. There’s a yearly tree planting
ceremony hosted by World Cruising Club, along with interesting lectures, cooking demonstrations and cultural celebrations. The Costume Party is always a hit, and there is something ARC-related every night around the Rodney Bay area.
As the local home of the ARC, IGY Rodney Bay Marina becomes a busy centre for local craftspeople and vendors who set up their businesses at the ARC Village, a temporary market of old-fashioned chattel houses around the marina which offer
some of the best souvenirs and crafts the island has to offer. The regular Farmers’ Market offers fresh seasonal produce while the restaurants and bars at the marina’s waterside become a meeting place for locals and sailors from morning till night.
Look out for ARC in St Lucia throughout December! The official schedule of events can be found at the Saint Lucia Tourist Board website www.stlucianow.com and read more about ARC at www.worldcruisingclub.com.
There is so much to do in one of the best tropical vacation spots that it is hard to know where to start but we hope this article will help you decide.