Gullah Geechee reunion is Saturday on St. Helena Island. Bring your dancing shoes
Famlee Day, a celebration of the deep ties Gullah Geechee Nation families have to each other and the Lowcountry land and sea, is returning Saturday. And for the first time, it’s being held on St. Helena Island.
“It’s a large Gullah Geechee family reunion,” Marquetta Goodwine, known as Queen Quet of the Gullah Geechee Nation, told The Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet.
The public is invited, too, Goodwine said.
The event typically attracts hundreds of native Gullah Geechee people. It’s the 21st anniversary. The popular get-together was canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19 so people are eager to meet in person once again, Goodwine said.
Bring your dancing shoes, Goodwine said. And your positive energy.
A rhythm and blues mix will be played by DJ Kwame Sha.
There will also be activities for children.
Besides the good vibes, attendees also are encouraged to bring cash, CashApp, chairs, masks, drums and tambourines.
For the first time, Saturday’s Famlee Day will be at St. Helena Island, in Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Park on Sea Island Parkway at Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.
It’s from noon to 3 p.m., and it’s free.
Numerous Gullah Geechee artists and food trucks will be on hand.
The event kicks off a series of in-person and Zoom events for Gullah Geechee Nation Appreciation Week, which concludes Aug. 8.
The week’s theme is “Celebrating Gullah/Geechee Land & Living Legacy.”
Goodwine said water is the bloodline for the Gullah Geechee, while holding onto land is critical because it provides the means for the next generation to survive.
Gullah/Geechee Nation and All Mobile Productions are sponsoring the event, which Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce will be supporting for the first time.
The Gullah/Geechee Visitors Center will be open.
For complete details about Gullah/Geechee Nation Appreciation Week follow www.GullahGeecheeNation.com or Facebook.
The previous Famlee Day was in 2019 at Mosquito Beach on James Island — a beach that, during segregation, was accessible to Black people in the Charleston region.
It brought out over 1,000 native Gullah/Geechees in the same way that location used to bring out people during its heyday, said Goodwin, who hosts “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Day” annually.
The Gullah Geechees of St. Helena Island are looking forward to matching that number at Famlee Day Saturday, Goodwine said.
Famlee Day is free
No admission will be charged.
But attendees are encouraged to download passes to the event at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/157357244755.
They also are asked to make donations to the Gullah Geechee Land and Legacy Fund. The Land and Legacy project, which is being led by the Gullah Geechee Sea Island Coalition, is an effort to protect sacred Gullah Geechee sites.
Social distancing and wearing masks when close up at booths will be enforced.
Gullah Geechee Nation stretches from Jacksonville, N.C. to Jacksonville, Fla. It encompasses all of the Sea Islands and 30-35 miles inland to the St. Johns River. On these islands, people from numerous African ethnic groups linked with indigenous Americans and created the unique Gullah language and traditions from which “Geechee” later came.
The Gullah/Geechee people have been considered a nation within a nation” from the time of chattel enslavement in the United States until they officially became an internationally recognized nation on July 2, 2000, Goodwine said.
