Angela, Travis, and Moonlight Vigil

     We had some more visitors this month, which is always a blessing, especially when they’re good friends like Angela and Travis. Unfortunately we don’t have very may pictures to show from their trip. This might be due to the fact that they’re our third set of visitors, and maybe this carries with it the same effect of my mother having increasingly less baby pictures with each additional child. I’d like to think it has more to do with the fact that we were spending most of our time laughing and enjoying ourselves that we found little time to take pictures.

     While Angela and Travis were here a Moonlight Vigil was held in Accompong for the first time in many years. A Moonlight Vigil is a traditional Maroon ceremony that used to be kept every full moon in Accompong. It involves a full moon, a bonfire, traditional drumming and singing, the blowing of the abeng, traditional dancing, traditional food, and storytelling.

Like indigenous populations worldwide, cultural preservation and retention is a major issue in Accompong. Since we’ve reached, many people have lamented that the Moonlight Vigil was no longer being held, including our Jr. Council members. So, with only a little help, they held a Moonlight Vigil about a week ago for Black History Month….and it was spectacular. Maybe it was run-of-the-mill for everybody there, but to us it surely wasn’t. I think it might even have been one of those feel-good-PCV-moments everybody always talks about….