A LARGE 20-member delegation from the mountainous Kwahu range in the Asante region of Ghana will visit Jamaica for the first time this year to celebrate Quao Day, June 23, with the Windward Maroons led by the Charles Town Maroon community.
This was announced by Frank (Buck) Lumsden, a well-known Jamaican painter, and Anthony (Maroon) Irving, managing director of Anything From Jamaica, Ltd., the two principal organisers representing the Charles Town Maroon community in Portland.
Quao Day is celebrated each year in Jamaica on June 23, in remembrance of the signing of the peace treaty on June 23, 1739 between the British colonialist government and the Windward Maroons led by the legendary national hero of Jamaica Nanny, and her brother, the famed fighter and military strategist, Quao (Kwahu).
HISTORIC ORIGINS
Legend has it that both Nanny and Quao were possessed with supernatural powers and could appear and disappear at will in the mountainous and cavernous regions of Portland where they lived, fought and defeated the British troops sent to capture and return to slavery the runaway slaves known as the Maroons.
The delegation of Kwahu and Asante people that will be visiting Jamaica is led by Michael Essuman, president, and Brenda Bismarck, vice-president of the Kwahuman Association, a New York-based Ghanaian organisation that has over 1,000 members living in the New York metropolitan area.
The visiting Ghanaians will be bringing gifts from the motherland to present to the Jamaican Maroons, and will be presented with gifts by the Jamaican Maroons.
FORGING TIES
Julian Reynolds, the organiser of the Ghanaian visit, said that he expects closer cultural, trade and economic ties to evolve from this "reunion of kindred spirits". Arrangements are being made for the Kwahu delegation to meet with Government officials, including Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke and Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, among others.
The Quao Day celebration this year will begin at sundown on Friday, June 20 and culminate at midnight on the following Monday.
