Christmas in Anegada
- By Melissa Woodley
A few weeks ago, while Christmas on Main Street took center stage on Tortola, I stumbled upon another event that I hadn't known about. Up in Anegada for the weekend, I couldn't help but notice some event preparations were being made at the roundabout, and after asking around, I discovered that they were holding their tree-lighting ceremony that evening. I promptly decided I needed to check it out, since this was the largest Christmas tree I'd seen in awhile.
Sure enough, I showed up later in the evening and found what had to be most of the population of Anegada and all of the weekend tourists milling around the roundabout. Food vendors were selling tasty treats and a band was setting up on stage. After settling in with some food and drink, I began to realize many people were wearing matching t-shirts whose logos revealed that they were a flotilla of charter guests from Canada. Then I spotted orange goals and black sticks which I immediately recognized as street hockey equipment. And it all started to come together.
As it was explained to the crowd, a few years ago, a Canadian man visited Anegada around Christmastime and happened to stumble upon the island's tree lighting ceremony, much like I had. However the tree was tiny in comparison to its surroundings, and the man avowed to bring them a bigger tree. The full details of the story are a bit fuzzy, but after a few years of the visitors traveling to Anegada and bringing friends, here we were, watching the Territory's largest Christmas tree light up for the first time.
Not only did the Canadian visitors give the island the tree, but they also brought the street hockey equipment and other gifts for the Anegadian children. Since ice hockey is synonymous with Canada, it seemed to be the perfect gift.
They flipped the switch on the tree, and the night continued with a church choir group and soloists performing before the Prophetic Sounds from Tortola and Leon and the Hot Shots from Virgin Gorda took the stage.
I hope that next year when the Canadian group returns at Christmastime, as I expect they will, the children will be able to hold their own against the Canadians in the street-top version of the winter pastime.