Chatoyer’s 250-year-old punch ladle to be digitized then returned to SVG

Finance minister Camillo Gonsalves is hopeful that an artefact almost 250 years old, which belonged to this country’s sole national hero, Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer, will be returned to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in time for the next celebration of National Heroes Day.

Discussions for the return of the artefact, labelled as “punch ladle of Chatoyer, chief of the Caribs, 1773” began less than a month ago in England with High Commissioner Cenio Lewis and Blondel Cuff, chief executive officer of the West India Committee.

The ladle is described as an intricately carved calabash cup about three inches in diameter which is fitted with a metal rim and polished wooden handle.

“That coconut was given by Chatoyer, our national hero to the British when they signed the treaty at the end of what was called the First Carib War. It’s probably the oldest coconut in the world,” Gonsalves said while speaking at an event on July 14.

“And it is intricately carved. It’s beautiful and they are going to return it to us because it is an artefact, it’s part of our heritage. It’s the only object we may ever have that we know for sure, that Chatoyer held in his hand.”

The finance minister, who was speaking at a webinar relating to the potentials that exist within the Metaverse for the local cultural and creative industries, said that before the artefact is sent back to St Vincent and the Grenadines, he has requested that a digital replica be created “so that people all around the world will be able to virtually pick it up, virtually turn it around and virtually see that slice of Garifuna history from the year 1773”.

He noted that the ever evolving digital space offers a significant platform for the marketing of not only local products, but culture as well.

In addition to requesting a digital replica of the ladle, he has also asked that the West India Committee come and do the same for our petroglyphs and “I’m asking that thy come and they do it with our pottery so that our history will exist in the metaverse, virtually, beyond whoever might walk into a museum in St Vincent and the Grenadines”.

“Think beyond your borders, think beyond seasonal culture, think beyond village fame and understand that you are standing on the threshold of a new era of globalisation. The only way we are going to grow is if we understand that and take advantage of it,” Gonsalves said.