ABSTRACT
On 13 August 1834, the Marquess of Sligo, then Governor of Jamaica, reported to foreign Secretary Thomas Spring Rice on the happenings of the First of August – the first day of emancipation in the British West Indies. The Governor wrote that in most parts of the island, the day was devoted to worship in the sectarian chapels in special services arranged by the missionaries. In several towns there were “fancy balls” attended by the colonial authorities. Many planters distributed extra rations of rum and saltfish; others slaughtered a cow and had a feast for their former slaves on the estate. The feasts recalled the crop-over festivals that planters had traditionally held at the end of the sugar harvest. All of these events were planned by whites. Each ritual sought to define emancipation as a gift from them to the slaves. For the missionaries it was a gift from God; for the colonial authorities it was a gift from the state; and for the planters it was a gift from them.1
