Culture Day Invites Schools To Celebrate VI Heritage & Culture

RELEASE | Friends of Virgin Islands National Park’s Culture Day for school students celebrates and promotes the rich culture of the Virgin Islands in February, Black History month. On Friday, February 28, 2025, St. John schools and homeschoolers and St. Thomas fourth graders are invited to a cultural celebration in the National Park playground in Cruz Bay. 

Over 500 students are expected to attend representing Julius E. Sprauve School, St. John Christian Academy, Gifft Hill School, Jane E. Tuitt Elementary, Joseph Gomez Elementary, Lockhart Elementary, and Yvonne E. Milliner-Bowsky Elementary. With over 15 demonstrators at Culture Day, students will learn about herbal medicine from Loreli Hill, tyre palm weaving from Edmund Roberts, and cowrie shell jewelry from Yolanda Morton, as well as beekeeping from Elmo Rabsatt, the art of the Moko Jumbie from Yisrael Petersen, bamboula dancing from Raven Phillips, and more.

“We thank the culture bearers, performers and artisans involved for their dedication to keeping Virgin Islands culture alive for generations to come,” says Tonia Lovejoy, Executive Director, Friends of Virgin Islands National Park. “Nothing is quite as magical as the curiosity of a child learning that a calabash fruit from a tree can become a bowl or a musical instrument; or how to perfect the hip swivel and steps of the bamboula dance to the soul beat of a goatskin drum.”

Teachers interested in having their class attend should please contact Taylor White at [email protected]. More information on Culture Day can be found on the Friends website at www.friendsvinp.org.

This event is made possible thanks to the support of Virgin Islands Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation, Virgin Islands Tourism, the Liberty Foundation, Virgin Islands Council on the Arts, and the National Park Foundation.