Fiesta di seú is our harvest festival that we faithfully celebrate every year on Easter Monday. Celebrating harvest festivals is a worldwide phenomenon. After bringing in the (first) harvest, farmers usually reflect on this important event.
It happens in different ways with regional religious and cultural customs always playing an important role. On the other hand, these festivals, although from different regions and cultures, have a number of important things in common.
In the first place, the first harvest is widely displayed to the public. The harvest is central to all activities. You can see from the harvest whether it has been a good or less good year. There is no party in a bad year. The harvest is always greater than the accompanying decorations and activities such as the floats, costumes and music.
Second, it’s about gratitude. In some cultures, part of the harvest is offered to the gods (or God) or the church. The farmers express their gratitude for the gift of God through rituals (including church services). It is a festival with a deeply spiritual/religious meaning.
Thirdly, the feast is always celebrated in the region where the harvest takes place. It is primarily a celebration of the farmers, their families and everyone who has worked on the land. It’s a rural party. City dwellers move from the city to the agricultural areas to view the harvest and experience the festivities.
Our Fiesta di Seú has experienced a different development in the last 25 years, which raises the question of whether we can still talk about a harvest festival.
1. Where is the harvest, the most important element of our fiesta di seú? We see dozens of floats and music trailers in the parade; thousands of participants in beautiful folk costumes; “kantado mayo” (the seu singing king); Reina Seú (seú queen); but no harvest. So the accompanying decorations in our Fiesta di Seú are clearly larger than the harvest itself, if there is one.
2. Among all the festivities, there is hardly any expression of gratitude to God and Mother Earth. Little is known of the religious significance of this feast.
3. Our Fiesta di Seú has become a city festival, far from the region where the crops are grown. Our “kunukeros” (farmers) who work hard all season with limited resources and in an unfortunately not very agriculturally friendly climate, do not play an important role in this celebration.
Our Fiesta di Seú has thus become more of a cultural folkloric event. So let’s call it that. Personally, I would have liked all the money we raise to celebrate the festival to be used to provide the kunukeros with better resources and more know-how. This way we can at least bring in a decent harvest on which to build a party. At least we’ll have something to celebrate.
Etienne Ys
Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles
