Middle Passage Remembrance Ceremony Held on Virginia Key
Story & photograph by José Pérez
As the astronomical phenomenon of the “super full moon” faded
in the dark warmth of the early summer sky, drums greeted the dawning sun in
the east, rising over the waters of Biscayne Bay. Standing firm against a strong wind blowing
from the south, a circle of people gathered in remembrance of untold millions
of people that did not survive the ocean crossing between Africa and the
Americas during the era of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, just yards from a sea
turtle’s nest.
The gathering was not a random nor coincidental meeting
on a Miami beach. It was the continuation
of what has become a special South Florida tradition: the annual
Middle Passage Remembrance Ceremony. This year’s edition was held last Sunday
morning on historic Virginia Key.
“It’s in honor of the millions of people that lost their
lives because of the slave trade,” said Robert McKnight, a local artist who has
been actively involved with the event for many years. “It’s a chance to pay tribute, a way to pay
homage to the ancestors that passed during that trip.”
Altine, another local artist and a woman of great energy
who started the Remembrance Ceremony on the first day of Kwanzaa in 1993, said
the event has grown greatly since its first year at Haulover Park Beach in
Northeast Miami-Dade County. “Now we have Key West, and people all over the
country” are hosting their own remembrance ceremonies. For example, San Francisco, New Orleans,
Charleston, Philadelphia, Pensacola, and Yorktown, Virginia all remember the
countless humans whose remains abide in the murky depths of the ocean that
brought the marauding caravels to the coasts of Africa for centuries. There is even an underground memorial – a
circle of statues - in the clear blue waters of the Caribbean nation of
Grenada. “If we don’t remember them, who will?” asked Altine, who has had the
remembrance on Virginia Key since 1994 with the support of organizations like
the Kuumba Artists’ Collective and the Virginia Key Park Trust.
Ironically, a few months after Altine organized the first
remembrance ceremony in Miami, UNESCO officially launched the International Slave
Route Project at a conference in Benin.
The early morning ceremony is in honor of the “many
people [that] died that were never properly buried,” said Dinizulu Gene Tinnie.
“It is a time to pause and reflect on this
whole passage of history that did
take place.”
Catherine Hummingbird Ramirez, an ancestral queen of the
Carib nation, offered a spiritual cleansing for everyone in the circle with a
lotion made out of plants, moving in a counter-clockwise direction. She then offered a blessing for the ancestors
in “each of the four directions.”
“The ancestors are here,” said Hummingbird. “They’re
listening.”
Hummingbird then lit white Garifuna sage – “a powerful
medicine” – and reversed her direction, moving clockwise around the circle
allowing the incense smoke to blow upon all.
As she did so, she led those gathered in a greeting to Pachamaná, Mother
Earth, and together they called on the Great Spirit to “bless the ancestors
that were coming on those boats.”
The participation of Hummingbird is an important
symbol. “She’s the connection between
the ancestors that were here before everyone else came,” said McKnight. Indeed, many present spoke of the
relationship between Seminoles and the Africans they helped escape to freedom
along the almost unknown southern route of the Undeground Railroad which ran
just a few miles from where everyone was gathered last week. “They’ve always been a part” of the
remembrance, added Altine, who started the tradition with a Miccosukee tribal
leader. “They’re keepers of the land.”
Tinnie and others passed around ears of corn to everyone
in the circle. “Corn is a sacred plant,
it does not grow wild,” said Tinnie.
These would be given as offerings in memory of the deceased.
“Facing the Rising Sun”
With corn in their hands, those present sang along with
performance artist Omilani who offered “a song for the people of the [African]
diaspora” in the Afro-Puerto Rican rhythm of bomba. With lyrics in English and Spanish, Omilani
sang of “a whole lotta freedom in my heart and soul…tengo liberacion en mi corazon” (I have freedom in my heart). Pelicans glided overhead on the warm
tradewinds as the song remembered the victims of the Middle Passage: “I left a trail of blood all across the
ocean.”
More songs were sung, each having lyrics that evoked the
spirit of remembrance.
Finally, the familiar strains of “Wade in the Water”
began and, with that, came the signal to bring forth the offerings that would
be carefully placed upon a palm frond raft made that morning on the beach with
the blade of a machete by Tinnie, McKnight, and Marlon Moore. The offerings included apples, oranges,
malanga, whole pineapples, okra, plantains, slices of watermelon, rice, ñame,
and the corn distributed to everyone.
“We encourage offerings to remember what these ancestors
would have enjoyed,” said Tinnie.
Longtime participants of the Middle Passage Remembrance
had spoken all morning of special occurrences that happen every time they come
together to pay respects to the ancestors.
“Every year there’s a sign,” said McKnight. He and Hummingbird spoke of a rain cloud a
few years earlier that passed overhead shaped like the hull of a long-ago ship
but “shed no tears.”
“The spiritual leaders tell you that’s confirmation,”
affirmed Altine.
As the offerings were carried out into the sea by
volunteers, others on the shore saw dolphins nearby breaching the surface of
the water to get a closer look.
For many present, the occasion to remember the nameless
Africans buried beneath the waves also served to kindle spiritual feelings and
remembrances of loved ones recently passed.
Kiesha, a professional from New England who recently moved to Miami,
said she felt “overwhelmed” during the ceremony. “This was a chance to feel something deep
inside of me and get in touch with my ancestors.”
McKnight said that with the recent passing of some of his
relatives during the previous 12 months, this year’s remembrance ceremony had
added meaning. “It brings it closer to
home.”
“The remembrance is a new beginning to call on my
ancestors to help me get through another year.”
Kiesha also took time to remember her mother who passed
thirteen years earlier, on the very same day.
For organizers, the event is a celebration of
humanity. “It welcomes everybody,” said
Tinnie. McKnight agreed, who said that
the ceremony “is a way of paying homage to all
of the ancestors.”
The remembrance is also a validation of resilience. “You can’t kill our spirit,” said Hummingbird.
There was one more sign observed by participants. Throughout the ceremony, a small squadron of
frigate birds were literally floating over the circle of people on the warm
winds blowing to the north. Frigate
birds are normally seen only by ships and, when the ceremony ended, they flew
away.
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