By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Wednesday 23rd December 2021) — Owner/General Manager Aidan Hendrickson of St. Peter’s Bringing Back the Culture has given his impression on the positive impact that the movement continues to have on society since reviving the involved folklore troupes. The St. Peter’s Actors were revived in 2019, the St. Peter’s CowBoys and Indians were revived in early 2020, and the Monkey Hill Bull Troupe later that year.
Hendrickson explained his inspiration: “I have seen a need that culture is something that if you don’t know your heritage, you can’t have a future, and the culture is one way to show the youths where we have come from and how we could modernize it to fit the norms of society today.”
Commenting on the reception from the public: “The reception for the CowBoys and Indians has been overwhelming because this is a Christmas sport that has not been seen in over forty years. When people saw it in action, persons stopped their vehicles to take photographs and videos just to document this particular moment in history. The actors have a similar story as well. They’ve been dormant for about ten years and when we revived in 2019, persons were taking pictures. Sometime last week, the actors did an event through Basseterre and we ended up over at the bus terminal. A guy drove around just to find us to say that when he was a youngster he used to enjoy watching the guys jumping over the fork and he wanted us to send him photographs and videos — so it shows that persons are really engaged in the culture.”
His hope for the future: “My hope is to add more folklore groups and get more people engaged — more children and more adults. If they would like to join in the action that would be awesome.” For more information persons can contact Hendrickson at 767-3891 or aidanhendrickson@hotmail.com.