Freedom Meals - A New Caribbean Tradition
The tradition of May 5 Freedom Meals is growing on the Caribbean islands. This year a total of 51 joint meals were organized under the Freedom Meals banner. That is almost double the number from last year. There were more than 500 Freedom Meals throughout the Kingdom. At the heart of a Freedom Meal is a special meeting at the dinner table, where guests talk about freedom and unfreedom: themes that you do not think about every day and that are ideally worthy of attention on Liberation Day.
Freedom Meal
"You can speak of a success," says Anja van Bergen, the driving force behind the organization of the Caribbean Freedom Meals. Fortunately, many people on the islands are enthusiastic about the idea and we immediately received enthusiastic cooperation from many different quarters. Each island has its own quartermaster, but in addition, many enthusiastic volunteers immediately came forward to organize a Freedom Meal. Everyone in their own unique way. Freedom Meals were organized at school, in the hospital, at work, in restaurants, in community centers, just on the street in the neighborhood, in a museum, in restaurants, in a gallery, at the naval base, or simply at home at the kitchen table. With a few guests or just with a company of 200 people. With a simple meal or an elaborate dinner, but always in the presence of the Freedom Soup and the dialogue cards for a good conversation.
Dialogue cards
The organization of Freedom Meals, together with the National Committee for 4 and 5 May, provides a few preconditions, such as dialogue cards to give direction to the conversation. "That works very well. Each dialogue card contains a question in the languages Papiamentu, Dutch, and English. One of the questions, for example, is: "If you were the boss of the world, what would you change?" At the same table, this was sometimes lively discussed in the three languages. Other questions are “What does freedom mean to you?’ or “Have you ever felt unfree?” “You can imagine that you really meet the other person when you start a conversation about this together,” says Van Bergen. “We, therefore, hear a lot of positive reactions from participants who have experienced something beautiful during the Freedom Meals. Talking about freedom brings people into contact with each other. Sometimes there are meetings with people who otherwise would not meet so quickly. People from different neighborhoods or from different layers of society. But on May 5, they ate and talked together. Sometimes people do know each other, but a conversation about this theme would not get off the ground so quickly. Then we hear back that it was a special evening where people got to know each other in a different way.”
Saba
Anton Hermans, quartermaster on Saba, says that on Saba schoolchildren were offered a Freedom Meal in the local restaurants. Groups of students could reserve a table. There they first got the Freedom Soup and then another meal from the restaurant. It was a collaboration between the hospitality industry and the schools. Of course, there were also dialogue cards on the table and so 180 children on Saba talked about freedom.
Kingdom
In this way, Freedom Meals are jointly enjoyed on all Caribbean islands and in the Netherlands. “The feeling that we are sitting down together with everyone in the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the same day and talking about this important theme is extra special. We all eat the same soup, we talk about the same theme, each from his own angle and from a different place. It is a momentum that you all experience on the same day and that is great. It gives the feeling of being part of something bigger,” says Anja. When asked if she still has a dream for the future, Anja says: “I hope that we can also join the tradition of the Liberation Festivals and that we can eventually conclude the Freedom Meals with a wonderful, big concert where the famous “We'll meet again” will sound as well.”
