Feteing
The sun casts a glow, making us all sparkle in the warm light of the “golden hour”. We’ve been dancing for 2 hours nonstop, sweat pouring down our faces. I’ve lost a couple of feathers, but I don’t care. I turn to my sister and say “I feel so free!” She agrees.
I discovered my love for soca in 2019. I learned about different artists like Kes, Machel Montano, and Patrice Roberts and fell in love with every single song I heard, but none quite as much as Savannah Grass. As 2019 bled into 2020, I planned to go to St. Kitts and participate in Sugar Mas 2021. I secured my lodging early, started setting aside money, and looked forward to experiencing everything it had to offer.
I don’t have to say why I didn’t go. I was crushed but moved my focus to other things, like finding new work and moving out of Florida. Life happened. I got married. We bought a house. Throughout many changes (I moved four times in two years, all but one across state lines), soca was there. I couldn’t describe how it made me feel. Rough days, nervous energy, cardio day in the gym? Soca. I knew that I would have my opportunity to dance under the sun with Savannah Grass blasting through the speakers, I just needed to wait until the right time.
It turns out that the right time was with my sisters and friends at Hookie Fest’s J’Ouvert in DC. Covered in paint, drinking rum punch at 9 AM, I finally heard it:
Everybody on stage
Oh Lord oh
If you comin' down from the mountain
Oh God oh
When de riddim beat is in town
See me jumpin' on de Savannah grass
I will never be able to describe the pure euphoria I experienced at that moment. I had finally made it, a small dream was realized. Another sister told me later: “The way you reacted when that song came on…I knew it had to be good.”
That feeling flowed for the rest of the weekend. I danced for the equivalent of 32 miles. I wined. I jumped. I made fete buddies. I had fun. So much fun. Fun with no qualms about how my belly looked completely exposed, my cellulite showing, or how I looked to people on the way back to the place we were staying. Pure joy radiated from my bones. Beautiful people of all body types singing and dancing along to the music surrounded me and I couldn’t help but say “My, GOD, I love this!”
Of course, my sisters want to come next year, and I will happily plan however many years they want to go. I don’t think I will be able to wait that long. I am already looking for the next fete. I’m hooked. Long live soca.
J’Ouvert, covered in paint
