Christiansted, St. Croix was shining a little bit brighter than usual on Friday night during the Crucian Cultural Group’s (CCG) annual Ah Glow in Deh Park: Deh Village of Lights holiday event. The festivities included the Limpricht Park Tree Lighting celebration, illuminating the holiday season across the town.
On Friday, the CCG’s Ah Glow in Deh Park: Deh Village of Lights marked its sixth year of holiday merriment. The evening featured events including music to highlight the history and culture of St. Croix, entertainment by moko jumbies, and revelers among the crowd cheered during the illumination of Limpricht Park, located in the heart of Christiansted, where 13 park trees were uniquely decorated.
Crucian Cultural Group
The Source spoke with Wanda Figueroa-Vialet, lead chair of the Crucian Cultural Group’s annual Limpricht Park Tree Lighting event, to learn more about the celebration.
“Crucian Cultural Group is a group of twelve like-minded individuals whose main goal is to try to preserve as much of the Virgin Islands, specifically Crucian history, traditions and culture,” Figueroa-Vialet explained. “The group’s main focus started with attempting to enhance the Christmas holiday season with activities in the main town [on St. Croix] of Christiansted, [while] being mindful not to interfere with the annual Festival celebration of activities in the town of Frederiksted,” she continued.
“As lead of the Limpricht Park Tree Lighting event [for the past six years], I’ve managed to create a new theme annually for each of the events we host,” Figueroa-Vialet stated. “Over the years, I’ve reached out to businesses in the town of Christiansted and [additional] organizations to invite them to be a part of this activity,” she said. “This year, our sixth year, we’ll be featuring the art of Cariso [music],” Figueroa noted. “All cultural features [are created with the] hope of enlightening the community of the many cultural traditions of St. Croix.” (Among the entertainment on Friday were the Guardians of Culture Moko Jumbies, musical bands Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights, the Gentlemen of Jones, and artist Elle Nielsen)
CCG’s Limpricht Park Tree Lighting Details
Figueroa-Vialet explained that when CCG hosted their first “Ah Glow in Deh Park” six years ago, businesses in Christiansted decorated trees in Limpricht Park with locally crafted items. The tradition of decorating the park trees—13 in total—has continued ever since. She explained that the trees and areas within Limpricht Park are decorated by community members and sponsors.
“There are 13 Tree Sponsors, Figueroa-Vialet explained. “Once a business or an organization adopts a tree, their duty is to purchase lights and host a decorating date with family and friends to meet up in the park and decorate the tree they’ve been issued, [and it is an] entire community event,” Figueroa-Vialet said. “The park comes alive with family and friends eating, drinking, playing music and decorating these trees, [and] the 13 majestic trees are all different types, huge mature trees, [including] guinep [and] almond [trees],” she continued.
In addition to the 13 tree sponsors, community members known as Friends of the Park can adopt smaller trees, as well as other small areas of the park to beautify.
“Another community initiative [called] the Friends of the Park is advertised on Facebook annually [and provides] members of the community [with the opportunity] to adopt the smaller trees, the hedges and the planters or fence line areas of the park,” Figueroa-Vialet shared.
“Many of the Tree Sponsors have been with us since the inception and would always ask to be involved,” Figueroa-Vialet said. “If they can’t participate for whatever reason, the tree goes to the next group on the waitlist,” she continued. “This year we have three new Tree Sponsors and four new Friends of the Park, and we have two organizations already on the waitlist for next year,” she added.
Additional CCG Festival/Carnival Celebrations
For those who may have missed the celebration this year, there are additional opportunities and events that CCG has planned for the season in December and January. A list can be found on the organization’s Facebook page.
Figueroa-Vialet encouraged community members to come and enjoy the events of the season.
“Festival/Carnival on most Caribbean islands stem from many years ago when enslaved Africans were granted ‘free time,’ [and] they would dance in the streets,” Figueroa-Vialet noted. “St. Croix is definitely one island where you get to sample the music, the food, the dances, [and] the atmosphere of Christmas is definitely in the air,” she added. “It’s an opportunity for many to let their hair down and have a party for a few weeks,” she concluded.
A video obtained by the Source at the event can be viewed here!
