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Friday, February 25, 2005 - The Folk Research Centre has organized a
ceremony for the “Remembrance of our cultural heroes”, as part of its activities
to mark St. Lucia’s 26th anniversary of Independence. This will take place on
Saturday February 26th. Two cultural heroes will be honored this year, the late
Harold Simmons and Dame Sesenne Descartes. The FRC plans to celebrate the life
and work of St. Lucia’s foremost cultural icons, both those who are still alive
and those who have passed on.
The Remembrance event begins at 3 pm at the Choc Cemetery where a memorial
service will be held for the late Harold Simmons who died in May 1966. Msgr.
Patrick Anthony, the founder of the Folk Research Centre will lead the
programme. The ceremony will continue at 4 pm at the FRC headquarters where
Kennedy ‘Boots’ Samuel will speak on the life and work of Dame Sesenne Descartes
and Dr. Didacus Jules will speak on the life and work of the late Harold
Simmons. Cultural entertainment will form part of the remembrance.
Harold Simmons is regarded by many as the father of St. Lucian arts and culture.
He was a tutor of both the Honorable Derek Walcott and the Honorable Dunstan St.
Omer. Simmons was an artist, archaeologist, historian, botanist and a journalist
who served as editor of the Voice newspaper. The Folk Research Centre, in
association with the Castries City Council, plans to erect a marker in the
cemetery to identify the resting place of Harold Simmons.
Dame Marie Selipha Sesenne Descartes (born March 1914) is popular in St. Lucia
as Queen of Folk Culture. She received the St. Lucia Medal of Merit, and was
knighted by the Queen in 2000. She is resident at Mon Repos.
This remembrance of our cultural heroes, both living and deceased, has been in
the planning by the FRC for a number of years.
For those who have died, the FRC will be identifying their graves, and plans to
place appropriate markers on the final resting places of those who have
contributed significantly to the cultural development of St. Lucia. The FRC is
making this year’s event the first of what is being planned as an annual
Independence activity.
Cultural activists and interested members of the public are invited to join the
FRC in this Remembrance of our cultural heroes.
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