The historic town of Accompong in St. Elizabeth seeks to boost its community tourism effort through cultural activities such as its annual Accompong Maroon celebrations, which attract hundreds of international visitors each year.
This year’s celebration is on January 6 and is a major calendar event for both Jamaicans and tourists from as far away as Germany and Africa. People from as far away as England, Canada, the United States of America, and even from Kenya in Africa attend the event in St. Elizabeth every year.
As a measure to raise funds for community development, each visitor to Accompong Maroon Celebrations pays an entrance fee to enter the festivities, which was absent from previous celebrations. Colonel Ferron Williams said some of the gate receipts will be used to fund a new education fund, with another portion to partially fund a sixth-grade Achievement Test (GSAT) student and a GSAT student. ninth grade achievement test (GNAT) within the community. .
Known as the mother of the four maroon settlements in Jamaica, Accompong Town is located between the parishes of St. James and Trelawny and boasts one of the most authentic experiences that cannot be replicated anywhere else due to the nature of its existence. . The friendly and welcoming residents are royal descendants of enslaved Africans who fled plantations across Jamaica during the period of slavery.
The term ‘Maroon’ was primarily used during the 16th to 18th centuries to describe black slaves who had escaped from plantations or had become fugitives.
The annual Accompong Maroon celebrations are held on January 6 to commemorate the birthday of their former leader Kojo. Kojo fought with the British for 60 years before signing a Peace Treaty in 1738.
The celebration begins with the blasting of the abeng horn, summoning all the maroons to gather as they did more than 250 years ago. The Abeng Horn is an ancient powder horn adapted from its use for carrying musket gunpowder to an instrument used to communicate with Maroons over many miles in cabin terrain.