Massive celebrations planned for annual Hopetown Soiree

Jul 30, 2016 News

Thousands of Guyanese from all parts of Guyana have begun to throng to the village of Hopetown, West Coast Berbice, for the traditional annual Soiree celebrations set for this Sunday.
Soirees are held in various parts of the country, but the Hopetown engagement usually takes the cake. It is arguably one of the largest gatherings of people for such an activity in Guyana.
According to the organisers, the Soiree started a very long time ago and was celebrated by the ex-slaves on an annual basis in recognition of their freedom from slavery. It is still being held in many villages bought by the Africans after they gained freedom.
The event is held the night before Freedom Day. It starts just before midnight and will continue until dawn the next day. At the various venues a number of cultural activities and stage shows are held. There is also African pageantry, African drumming, folk songs and dancing, skits, poems and storytelling among other activities.
Folk and ring games such as sal pass, hop scotch, bun house, drop it Peter boy and hide and seek are also part of the night’s activities. African foods are usually in abundance including the popular Cook Up; Metem Gee. Fried and Salt fish with other delicacies including Quinches, Conkey and Cassava Pone, Calaloo and Coconut milk and Foo Foo among other dishes.
Hopetown is known for its traditional African drumming and the drummers will once again be leading the celebrations. A popular dance during the celebrations is the Square Dance, where four persons will form themselves into groups and dance around to the beat of the African drums and the flute.
There will be about 20 groups and during the dance, partners are interchanged. Each sound of the drum starts a different type of dance.
Activities are slated for a number of venues in the community including the Hopetown Community Centre and the Hopetown School Compound.
Most of the activities are free, and whatever funds are realized will be used by the groups to help in the enhancement of the African culture in the area while some are given to schools, kids, the elderly and other charitable organizations.
Apart from the rich and diverse drumming activities, all the top sound systems in the country are expected to be in attendance in what is expected to be a clash of the musical titans.
The popular Yoruba Singers String band is a regular feature and is again expected to be at one of the venues.
Many dignitaries are expected to grace the community to participate and give speeches and mingle with the crowd at the various venues.
Hopetown Village was one of the first villages bought by the Africans just after the abolition of slavery in 1834.
The slaves named the village Hopetown so as to give themselves hope for a better life after slavery.
The mammoth crowd will usually include persons as far as from the Rupununi and other far flung areas of Guyana.
A number of other areas including The Leeds /No. 53 group, Liverpool, Sandvoort, West Canje and Fyrish are some of the areas expected to be a hive of activities come Soiree or Pre Emancipation night.

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