Red Sky at Night serves up a rich culture stew

By Christopher Tobutt

Red Sky at Night inside – and in the grounds of – the Harquail Theatre on Saturday 2 March is a glorious Cayman Islands culture-stew-celebration with every aspect of culture you can think of thrown into it. Singing, dancing, cooking, painting, traditional craft, poetry and drama are all there. Put your ladle deep into the pot and swirl it around to see what comes up.

There really is so much to see and do – all the way from 4pm to 11pm. The color, sounds, aromas – what a spectacle!

Janet Minzett had an amazing stall “I have jewelry, Caymanite , conch shells, baskets, wood carving, bags and hats and fans” she said, before blowing the conch shell – it made a loud sound and it was the sound that they used to hear when the fishing boats came in, in the old days.

Waisted is a company owned by Aigulon Thomas “We sell customized and unique waist beads, bracelets and I’m starting to do some crochet too,” she said. Aigulon’s mother, Theresa Thomas had a stall right next door where she was selling decorated wine bags and bottles  as well as a book she had written full of inspirational and motivational and encouraging quotes for ladies, called “girl, sit right here…”

Artist Mark Ebanks – who was recently honored with an award at Heroes Day - was there with his lovely drawings and paintings. Donovan Sewell was there too, with his wonderfully colourful paintings of local scenes, flowers, butterflies, and birds.

There are so many artists and so many displays crammed into such a small space, it is really impossible to try to describe all that goes on. There’s traditional music, modern reggae bands, solo musicians, and steel pans – the Pandemix were treating everyone to their beautiful sounds, and then Caribbean Balance – a contemporary reggae band stepped onto the stage. Later in the evening was Madam Nirosa, the 5TH Division Band, Heat, Rico Rolando, and DJ Cardiac & Zosia – to get you up and dancing if you hadn’t eaten too much by that time.

In the Harquail Theatre, JGHS put together a drama – “The Wizard of Oz.” Then there was Floetry – and the Dreamchasers gave a dance medley as they chased their dreams. There was even a short film, “Ivan,” by Jazz Pitcairn. Radiance and the Cayman Islands Dance Company, the UCCI Dance Company all brought something different to the stage – each one highlighting a different aspect of Caribbean dance, celebrating our culture and heritage.

In the Caymanian Village two young children were making bare footprints in the sandy path leading up to one of the traditional house -fronts – bordered by pink conch shells. Deal Ebanks was giving a demonstration about how, in the old-days, they used to burn iron pots full of dried out cow dung to keep the mosquitoes away. It certainly seemed to work pretty well.

Rose May Ebanks was giving a demonstration of silver thatch weaving – surrounded by her beautiful bags and hats and baskets. Artisan Wray Banker was playing Warri – a traditional game – with a local pirate but he didn’t seem to be warri-ing too much.

Local cuisine included stalls selling fried chicken, oxtail, conch fritters, Cayman style beef, fried snapper, curried goat, corn on the cob, fried dumplings, and of course, Achee and Saltfish. The smell was heavenly.