The ‘invisible hunter’ is going virtual in the time of COVID-19

MOORE TOWN, JAMAICA - The 12th Annual International Charles Town Conference and Festival (AICTM Conference & Festival), which is celebrated every year on June 23 in the Maroon Community in Portland, Jamaica has been postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic and is now to take place in a virtual setting. The Conference and Festival is based on and around the celebrations in honour of Ancestor Quao, an African, Maroon warrior who fought successful battles against the British and their system of enslavement

The Maroons

Situated in the highlands of eastern Jamaica, Moore Town is home to the descendants of independent communities of former runaway slaves known as Maroons. The African ancestors of the Moore Town Maroons were forcibly removed from their native lands to the Caribbean by Spanish slave traders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. After decades of warfare, the British finally yielded to the communities’ demands for recognition of their autonomy by signing a treaty with the Maroons in 1739. The Maroons preserved many diverse languages and cultural practices from their ancestors from west and central African regions until today.

They also elaborated new collective religious ceremonies that incorporated various spiritual traditions. As part of their heritage, the inhabitants of Moore Town also possess a unique system of communally-held “treaty lands”, a local political structure and the use of the abeng, a side-blown “talking” horn of Jamaican origin which serves as a means of long-distance communication. To recognize the cultural identity and the heritage of the Maroon Town, it has been Inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Ancestor Quao Day

Ancestor Quao Day is celebrated each year on 23 June, the day a peace treaty was signed between the African ancestors of the Maroon community and the British.  Faced with the many battles the British had lost, they demanded and wrote a peace treaty, which was signed by Ancestor Quao on behalf of his people.  

The celebration in Quao's name honours all ancestors who fought for an independent Jamaica on and off the battlefield.  It also honours and respects in particular the cooperation between the first Maroons, the Taíno people and the enslaved Africans.

Due to the special circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, a virtual program is currently being developed that captures the essence of the Ancestral Quao Day celebrations, while also paying tribute to other aspects and aspects that are normally part of the AICTM conference and festival.