Crop Over Harvest Festival- Barbados
Formerly known as Harvest Home, Crop Over or “Crawpova” as it is referred to by locals, this festival is said to have begun in 1687 as a derivative of the harvest festivals in Africa such as the yam festival celebrated in Nigeria and Ghana.
It is a celebration of the successful harvest of sugarcane on plantations in Barbados. On this day, enslaved workers thanked the gods of the land for granting them a bountiful harvest and asked them to purify and bless the land for the year to come.
The descendants held on to this custom and currently, Crop Over celebrations involve a serie of activities including the Kadooment Parades, which has become the highlight of the festival and a huge tourist attraction for the Caribbean island thanks to its global star, Rihanna.
