Cashew Festival showcases village culture
Earlier in the week we offered a short preview of this weekend’s Cashew Festival taking place in the idyllic village of Crooked Tree. If that wasn’t enough to get you interested, then tonight’s story should have you reaching for a bottle of cashew wine. We ran this piece in 1996. It features William Neal taking in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of that year’s festival.
At one time the village of Crooked Tree was totally isolated from the main land due to the lagoons that surrounded the area. Since the causeway was added, however, the village has made every effort to make itself an example to other small communities. The main thrust has come by the way of the Cashew Festival, which is in its 4th year and building steam. The festivals aim since its inception is to promote the area both locally and internationally by simply attracting people to the area for a taste of village life at its best.
George Tillett
“You know in the past our ancestor villagers use to do hunting, milpa, fishing on commercial basis. We are trying to divert their attention from these kinds of things into tourism, since tourism is fastly becoming the number one industry in the country.”
Heading the diversionary tactics, which will hopefully attract more tourists to the area, is Village Chairman, George Tillett. Tillett taught for 9 years before becoming Chairman in 1994.
George Tillett
“We are looking on the cashew now as a number one cash crop in the village. It brings in a very nice income and if you look around Crooked Tree, it grows wild here.”
But cashews aren’t the only thing growing here. According to Tillett community spirit is also burning bright.
George Tillett
“A candle hidden under a bushel is in vain. What we are trying to do is to use Crooked Tree as a beacon to light up all the other parts of Belize who feel down trodden, who feel depressed, who feel discouraged and we are showing them that something could happen only if the people of the area have a determination, hold one head and try to strive towards that goal.”
While that goal is not obvious to every one, the strength of the Creole culture was evident especially through the traditional music of Mr. Peter’s and the Boom and Chime Band.
William Neal
“While the Crooked Tree Cashew Festival highlights the Creole culture and a return to old traditions, other ethnic groups were not ignored as the Garifuna were given an opportunity to dance to the beat of their drums.”
“In an age when diversification seems to be the buzz word in agricultural circles, the cashew most definitely fits into that category. Most people know about the nuts, which are actually the seeds. But what most people don’t know, is that the fruit yields other products as well.”
Making jams and other preserves is common, but cashew wine seems to really have a really viable market. It sells for approximately $25 a gallon locally.
Ricky Burns
“Basically all you need is the juice, the fruit juice and sugar. Now depending on the alcohol content, you might want to add some yeast.”
While yeast quickly converts the sugar to alcohol, the conversion for Ricky Burns into a cashew connoisseur had taken close to twenty year.
Ricky Burns
“Instead of drinking a whole two bottles of cashew wine, I personally would think anybody would prefer to drink two glasses of wine and get the same effect. That’s actually why people drink you know, you want to get some kind of feeling from the drink.”
Besides being educational, the festival was also filled with frivolous and fun forms of family entertainment.
Part of the Creole culture, is the belief in the healing powers of herbs. To promote traditional healing and have fun at the same time, the cashew festival featured a bitters drinking contest. This local concoction believed to be a cure all it a mixture of cashew wine, Contribo, Billy Web and other herbs from natures pharmacy.
Tourist, Bitters Drinking Contestant
“I don’t know if I can describe it adequately. They give you a baby bottle filled with I don’t know, battery acid maybe and they want me to suck it out of there like a hungry child.”
William
“Do you know what the bitters that you just drank are good for?”
Tourist
“He says that I won’t get pregnant now, so that’s a good sign and it is supposed to keep me healthy, right?”
William Neal
“Right.”
Tourist
“Well let me tell you something, the only thing that will happen, is that I will get sick and then I’ll feel better and I’ll think its because of that. I’m telling you, I’m sick, I don’t feel well.”
Villager, Bitters Drinking Contestant
“I know that he was not used to this bitters, because I knew I could have handled it better than him because I am roots and I am from the village and I know that I can handle this bitters. Where he come from, there is nothing bitter, only sweet.”
After a day in Crooked Tree, one can’t help but feel that many old Creole customs and traditions are alive and well. It is also easy to see why the cashew is the festival’s focus and the main ingredient for a fruitful Crooked Tree.
William Neal for News Five.
The festival gets underway tonight with the crowning of the Cashew Queen and continues all day Saturday and Sunday in Crooked Tree Village.
