As the Territory develops and tries to keep abreast with the rest of the world, many of its cultural traditions become clouded in the process.

Youth today have little or no interest in playing marbles and hop-scotch, driving a go cart, sailing in a sloop, or farming as a means of living.

Not much blame can be placed on the youth or the society – these changes are inevitable as development takes places and modern technology takes precedence.

How can you tell a youth that a marble game will bring them more joy than a game on the Wii? How can you prove to them that driving a go cart is more fun than an engine-powered miniature car?

Let us face it, we cannot change the way the youth think and the things that they would want to do. As the Territory grows, so will the people.

However, ensuring that the cultural traditions are handed down can guarantee that they remain with us, regardless of the day and age that we live in.

Our cultural heritage represents who we are and where we come from.

The soapbox races or what is widely known as go carts, held on Sunday at the HLSCC Grounds has shown that the interest for such traditional racing exist.

The crowd support was beyond what the organisers expected and it is such events that can really bring back the interest of our cultural traditions and help to keep those traditions alive.

It might not take precedence over the technologically advanced race cars and games, but it will be seen as something that the whole family enjoys and still remains part of our culture.

The culture of traditional boat building that the Territory once boasts of is also dying , with only one boat builder alive. Tortola has been credited in the region with building the most unique sloop known as the Tortola boat.

Lets be realistic again, today, our youth would prefer the fast paced power boats to a ride on a sloop, but it does not mean that they are not interested in knowing about the sloop.

The Centre for Applied Marine Studies will soon have a syllabus in place to teach the art of traditional boatbuilding.

It is a revolutionary way in preserving the Territory’s culture since such traditions over the years were handed down from parents to children.

But soon that tradition will be preserved for all those who are interested in learning about it.

As historian Geoffrey Brooks pointed out, nobody is ever going to go back to building the sloop since it is too labour intensive, but the craft and the culture that goes with it can be preserved.

“If we can do that then we would have achieved our goal - to educate the young people from an early age to appreciate why it is important and to appreciate the value of their heritage and that of their grandparents and their great grandparents,” the historian said.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment