Toasting the Shamrock in Montserrat

The 17th March will see the cities and towns of Ireland decked out in honour of its patron saint. While many bemoan the secularisation of St Patrick’s feast day, others delight in the goodwill this day generates for the Irish around the world.Popularly known as the ‘Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’, Montserrat is the only place in the world outside Ireland where St Patrick’s Day is a public holiday. The 17th March sees the launch of a week of festivities there celebrating not only the island's Irish heritage but commemorating the ill-fated slave uprising of St Patrick’s Day 1768, when Afro-Montserratians attempted to wrest freedom from the island’s plantation owners, many of whom were English or Irish. Local Arawak and Carib Indians may or may not have been startled to see Christopher Columbus and his entourage sail past in 1493. For Columbus, the island registered sufficiently to merit an appellation after the Spanish monastery close to Barcelona.

The first European settlers were English. When they arrived in 1632, they brought Irish Catholics with them as indentured servants (slaves). Indeed Montserrat became a sort of refuge for persecuted Irish Catholics, some of whom were dispatched there after Cromwell’s infamous pillage and destruction of Drogheda in 1649. According to a 1678 census, more than half of the island’s inhabitants were Irish, and the rest of the settlers were English and Scottish. But Africans were soon to make up the majority of Montserratians as the plantation owners cashed in on the flourishing slave trade.

Montserrat’s celebration of St Patrick’s Day is usually accompanied by the national dish, ‘goat water’, reputedly based on the traditional Irish stew. Sadly, festivities in recent years have been overshadowed by the destruction wrought by the eruption of Soufriere Hills Volcano in July 1995. Two-thirds of the populace of 12,000 fled the island in the aftermath of this and another massive eruption in 1997.

“My first two years on Montserrat were pre-volcano. The community and the island were just recovering after hurricane Hugo (1989) which had devastated over 80 precent of all buildings. New homes, new government buildings and community centres were being built and tourists were coming again. There was a buzz – Montserrat was back on the map again. As an Irishman I was amazed by the history of Montserrat. What threw me most was that such a large proportion of the population in previous centuries had been Irish-born. Most were indentured servants (slaves) brought by the few Irish landlords to work the sugar cane and cotton plantations. This helped explain why most Montserratians have Irish names. Over 60 percent of the names in the phonebook are Irish! A very common surname is ‘Irish’ such as John Irish, Bernadette Irish etc.

I remember smiling the first time I went to the bank in downtown Plymouth and saw the teller’s name – ‘Mareen Dublin’.....sure it would have to make a Dubliner happy! Place names indicate Irish links too, Cork Hill, St Patrick's Village, Kinsale, Gallaways. The official stamp on your passport at the airport is a shamrock – ‘Welcome to the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean.’

The present population is mainly Afro-Caribbean. After the Irish slaves (indentured servants) disappeared from history, the African slaves came. In my first year the emphasis on St Patrick’s Day was on attracting Irish-American tourists. Later I became aware of a confusion of ideas behind the celebrations. The Irish part of their history was celebrated, but more of the reality of Montserratians’ African heritage needed to be at the forefront of these celebrations. Generally the first day of the celebrations includes a lecture on the historical background of Montserrat and its people. (Michael D Higgins, TD was a guest lecturer one year that I was there.) Then there is a special day at St Patrick's Village, where local foods are prepared against the backdrop of local music. Other events take place on other days during the week, such as the Catholic Church dinner and a road race.

My memory of Montserrat is of course of the volcano and the tremendous strength, courage and faith of the people as they lived with, struggled with and fought back against all that the volcano hurled on them. That is why I describe it as a privilege to have been among them during this struggle. Two-thirds of the people left the island mainly for England, and two-thirds of its land mass is still off limits. Yet Montserrat stands tall in its recovery and St Patrick’s Week will be celebrated in its own Montserratian style this year. I hope to be there to celebrate with them.

Irishman, Fr Larry Finnegan, SVD, spent seven “wonderful” years on Montserrat and remained with the people during the island's volcanic crisis.