NEW OFFICIAL MADRAS DESIGN FEATURING THE COLORS OF THE USVI
Long Awaited Project
On January 21, 2021, the official madras design of the Virgin Islands of the United States was enacted. With the initiative of Mr. Bradley Christian, president of the St. Croix Heritage Dancers, Senator Myron D. Jackson, whose arduous efforts continue to highlight and preserve Virgin Islands culture, local historians, cultural groups and creatives, this long awaited project was finally brought to the forefront. When we say, long awaited, we are talking about 5 years of working directly on this particular project but truly, it stems from the hopes and dreams of our cultural pioneers of 30 plus years ago!
Official Virgin Island Madras | Act 8424
On December 9, 2019, we were absolutely thrilled to see the project come forward to the Virgin Islands Legislature Senate committee of Culture, Historic Preservation and Aging & even more excited that the bill was passed. Fast forward to the start of 2021, the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, Mr. Albert Bryan, Jr., approved the bill and enacted the official Virgin Islands madras design. What exactly was the project, you ask? For umpteen years, there’s been many discussions about having a madras specific to the Virgin Islands, just as many other islands have a particular madras to call their own. With deep pride, immense love for our islands and much consideration of historical meaning and relevance, local textile designer, Debbie Sun, along with the St. Croix Heritage Dancers and others, created a madras design using particular colors to encapsulate the incredible richness and beauty of our outstanding US Virgin Islands.
A Seed Planted
This project was born from a serendipitous meeting at a Limpricht Park community event organized by the Christiansted Community Alliance (CCA). Mr. Bradley Christian of the The St. Croix Heritage Dancers, Inc. a non-profit organization and the longest standing cultural dance group in the Virgin Islands, was relaying to Ms. Mary Dema of CCA that many other islands have their own official madras such as Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis and discussed how wonderful and important it would be for the Virgin Islands to have one of their own. Debbie Sun, was vending just across from Mr. Christian and being a textile designer, they immediately brought her into the conversation. And so it started!
Thank you to VI Council on the Arts!
After receiving a grant from the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts and 3 years of discussions, numerous design proposals, research and traversing the logistics, on Monday, December 9th, 2019, we testified in front of the Senate Committee of Culture, Historic Preservation and Aging in response to a bill proposed by Senator Myron D. Jackson. In attendance was Mr. Alvin Milligan (shown on the left) on behalf of Mr. Bradley Christian of the St. Croix Heritage Dancers (shown on far right), Debbie Sun, the designer of the proposed madras (second to left), Ms. Mary Dema of CCA (second to right), and Mr. Larry Larsen (not pictured) who shared a wealth of Virgin Islands history to the testimony. It was an afternoon of history, island pride and a long awaited movement towards creating a USVI madras. The journey continued with town hall meetings conducted on all three islands, with lively discussion, in-depth historical references and community support from each of the islands. At last, on December 30, 2020, the bill was passed by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands and in the first month of 2021, the bill was enacted by the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. With the invaluable assistance of the fabric store owner, Ms. Vivian Ebbesen-Fludd, of Ebbe’s Store in Christiansted, the conceptual design materialized as an actual woven cotton fabric to be unveiled on June 5th, 2021 by the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts.
Madras Meaning
As mentioned, the madras design features specific colors reflecting the Virgin Islands: TURQUOISE for the Caribbean Sea that embodies our natural beauty; BLUE for the deep seas that allowed for ease of transport and made the deep harbors of St. Thomas an attractive port; PINK for the color of the conch shell, a poignant symbol of our Call to Freedom; YELLOW for the Ginger Thomas, the national flower of the Virgin Islands; GREEN for the vast fields of natural resources; WHITE in acknowledgment of the original cultural attire of the Virgin Islanders who wore the fabric of the white flour sacks; and a rich RED that represents love and strength and appears in all the flags the have flown across the Virgin Islands.
Virgin Islands Pride
There is a renaissance among Virgin Islanders, and particularly the younger generation, in expressing their cultural identity and island pride. Connected to this enthusiasm, we are beginning to see the madras cloth being featured in contemporary fashion, fine art photography, and Carnival costumes. Further, students living abroad have been reaching out to local quadrille groups seeking information about the madras so that they can showcase their culture for school projects and beyond.
A Caribbean Connection
Madras has been an important component of the Virgin Islands culture in the past and in the present. Many of the other islands in the Caribbean have their own madras such as Antigua, Guadeloupe and Dominica. Though the madras fabric is readily available in the Virgin Islands and is very much embraced in our cultural attire and at functions, the Virgin Islands does not yet have its own madras design. With the wide variety of madras found throughout the Caribbean, having our own madras design would serve the dual purpose of being a common thread that unifies us with the other Caribbean islands while simultaneously celebrating the particular identity of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
