No, I’m not talking about a weather pattern moving into New England. I’m referring to a
wonderful Christmas to New Year’s week in Bermuda with my partner, Bob Lovo.
We did it all – the Bermuda Underwater Research Institute (where the bathysphere underwater
submersible was invented in 1930) the National Museum of Bermuda (with many artifacts, photos, and
stories of shipwrecks, slavery and early settlement) Gibbs Light House (working since 1846), the oldest
Anglican Church in the Northern Hemisphere (1609) the Fantasy Cave (I walked up and down 86 steps),
the Bermuda Aquarium, the town of St. George (a UNESCO Heritage site) and some outstanding
restaurants which did their part to expand our waistlines.
All this is standard tourist fare, I know, but something we saw that few tourists see was the New
Year’s Day performance of the Gombey Dancers. About a dozen troupes of about a dozen men, each
dressed in elaborate costumes from head to toe, dance to the drum beat of some dozen young
drummers. Tall Peacock feathered headgear extends about three feet up from their painted face masks,
and their elaborate tassels, capes, pants, and jackets defy description—paint, tassels and embroidery
abound. We arrived on Boxing Day, when they also dance, but rainy weather kept them from
performing as they can’t let their elaborate costumes get wet. So we were thrilled to learn they would
dance on New Year’s Day – and right at our hotel. It was a 30-minute non-stop performance of moves
and shakes accompanied by snare drums and goatskin bass drums. The dances date back centuries to
African slaves who hid behind masks and danced out the stories of their enslavement.