Seventh Day Adventist Church Joins Revitalised Emancipation Celebrations

The Jamaica Union Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church has accepted the invitation of the Ministry of Youth and Culture to participate in the celebration of Emancipation as part of the revitalised Jamaica Festival.

Emancipation Day, celebrated on August 1, commemorates the abolition of slavery in Jamaica in 1834.

Seventh Day Adventist Churches across Jamaica will hold vigils beginning in the evening on July 31 leading into Emancipation Day in thanksgiving for the freedom of our people.

The services, in tribute to those who suffered under slavery and fought for freedom, will reflect on the experiences of Jamaicans during the fight for and after winning freedom 180 years ago.

The partnership with the Seventh Day Adventist Church is in keeping with the Ministry’s strategic reorganisation and revitalisation of Jamaica Festival to ensure lasting and appropriate celebrations of Emancipation and Independence.

At the launch of the Jamaica Festival 2014, the Minister of Youth and Culture, the Honourable Lisa Hanna, MP announced major changes to the annual Jamaica Festival programme which celebrates Emancipation and Independence. Among the changes is an adjustment to the Jamaica Festival celebration period which is now from June to Independence Day (August 6) instead of July 31 to August 6.

Minister Hanna said that the revitalised programme would ensure that we “never forget the ancestors who fought for and attained our Emancipation and our Independence.  We will forever be grateful to them for their sacrifice and will always by inspired by their example of triumph in the face of adversity.”

The main national activity commemorating the end of slavery — Emancipation Jubilee — will take place, as customary, at Seville Heritage Park in St. Ann from 8 pm on July 31 to 5 am on Emancipation Day. The event, organised by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, will feature traditional rites and performances in honour of the ancestors.

There will also be a major Emancipation Celebration in Sligoville, St. Catherine — one of the first free villages in Jamaica — as well as ceremonies in parish capitals across the island.