Christmas and New Year

The only thing that is missing from Christmas on Bequia is snow! The Christmas spirit is the same on the island as anywhere in the world - good will and season's greetings abound, families and friends get together, and shops are full of unusual gifts and delicious treats. Midnight services on Christmas Eve at both the Anglican church in Port Elizabeth and the tiny Catholic Church in Hamilton welcome all worshippers. The centre of Port Elizabeth and often whole villages take pride in their annual "lighting up" at this time of year, all adding to the festive spirit. On Christmas Day, as on Christmas Eve, hotels and restaurants offer traditional Christmas fare with all the familiar trimmings - with that extra West Indian flair.  New Year's Eve in St. Vincent & the Grenadines is more commonly, (and quite sensibly!) known as Old Year's Night, and Bequia really knows how to "ring out the old and ring in the new"! The harbour fills with visiting yachts, and ashore there are celebrations in every restaurant and bar - all the stops are pulled out for this one special night of the year. A spectacular firework display over Bequia Harbour is the highlight of the evening. Made possible by the generosity of private individuals and Bequia's business community, it's a climax to the holiday celebrations that no one will want to miss.                                                                                    Happy New Year! Midnight is accompanied by a sky lit up with fireworks and flares, popping corks and warm embraces - and then the partying really begins! Bequia's Admiralty Bay at Midnight     © Patrick Hutchins Photography 2025 Bequia New Year's Eve Fireworks 2022/23 Video

The Bequia Tourism Association, in conjunction with the SVG Tourism Authority, is the organising body responsible for putting on what has become one of the hottest and coolest festivals in the region, drawing rave reviews. The Bequia Music Fest started in 2000 when the BTA worked with Basil Charles to bring his world-famous Mustique Blues Festival to Bequia for one glorious evening in January.  In the ensuing years, the Bequia Music Fest expanded into a four-day event with a wide range of international, regional and local artistes of all musical genres coming together to bring a feast of entertainment to the islands' and nations' residents and visitors alike. Informality, smooth-running and the love of music is what brings people back year after year, and wins new fans of Bequia's signature tourism.

For as long as any one can remember, boats have always raced in Bequia. Formerly at Whitsun, now for the last 35-plus years held at Easter, Bequia's Regatta is rightly famous for its unique blend of local double-ender racing, yacht racing, shoreside activities and Bequia hospitality. A fleet of twenty or more traditional local boats from   Bequia and her neighbouring islands, some no more than 12 feet long, others a majestic (by comparison) 28 feet in length and capable of extraordinary speed and agility, compete out on the sparkling waters around Bequia. And on the same waters, upwards of thirty yachts compete in five CSA-officiated Classes   - every one of them racing with the same  verve and determination, striving to achieve that perfect harmony of boat, wind and sail. It's a fabulous, colourful weekend, full of fun and camaraderie, skill and tradition, with the whole island caught up in regatta fever. Sunday's Regatta Lay Day on Lower Bay beach sees a grand fete for boatloads of visitors from the mainland. The hard working volunteer members of the Bequia Sailing Club are responsible for putting on this high profile event every year, and the event is internationally renowned for being one of the largest regattas in the region, with well-run, challenging yacht races which include the six-race series which decides the annual J24 Southern Caribbean Championship. The island is almost full to bursting for the Easter period, and the harbour is packed with yachts. People come from all over the world just to be in Bequia for regatta, and none are ever disappointed. The island puts on its best and brightest show, and everyone just loves it!

Bequia Carnival normally takes places close to Vincy Carnival, and is a delightfully informal and spontaneous affair. With St. Vincent's "Vincy Mas" now the nation's premier tourism event, Bequia's own Carnival looks set to move forward as well and become a true small island carnival and a permanent fixture in the island's cultural calendar.

If Bequia Regatta is a celebration of Bequia's traditions of boat-building and seamanship, Bequia's Fisherman's Day (held on the first Saturday after Vincy Mas) is a lively and fiercely-contested demonstration of the island's abundant skills at harvesting the bounty in the waters that surround the island.  Begining in 2025, Bequia Fishermans' Day will be organised by the Sylvester Simmons Foundation.

Fishing starts at 9am, and all boats must return to the beach by 3pm for judging! Catches are sold Under The Almond Tree - fresh fresh, fresh! - and with food and drink on sale, plus  music and fun for all the family until 7pm, its another very special Bequia day not to be missed!

New Years Day January 1st
 

National Heroes Day March 14th

"Chatoyer the chief of the Black Charaibes in St. Vincent with his 5 wives" Late 18th century engraving from 1773 original by Agostino Brunias

2002 was the first year that National Heroes Day was celebrated in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. On this day the country remembers the death of the country's first national hero, Carib Chief Joseph Chatoyer who was killed in 1795 during the second Carib War - a fierce and determined resistance to the British occupation of St. Vincent.  After Chatoyer's death, the Caribs continued their defiant fighting for the next year or more, only finally surrendering in late 1796.  The British were so determined to rid St. Vincent of all possibility of future Carib resistance that virtually the entire Black Carib population - close to 4500 in number - were shipped to the uninhabited island of Balliceaux off Bequia's north east coast, to await onward transportation to Roatan in the Gulf of Honduras. But by March 1797, when transportation from Bequia to Roatan began, it is estimated that nearly half of the Caribs had failed to survive their months of exile on Balliceaux, and still more died on their journey to Roatan.

Good Friday April 18th

Easter Monday April 21st

National Workers Day May 1st

Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day June 9th

Vincy Carnival Monday & Tuesday July 7th/8th

Emancipation Day August 1st

On August 1st 1834, the "Act for the Abolition of Slavery in the Island of Saint Vincent and
its Dependencies" came into effect. However for the 22,500 slaves in St. Vincent at that time, their life
was not noticeably changed.
Only slave children under the age of six (officially recorded in 1835 as being 2,959)
became free as of that date. 

The remainder, including about 14,000 attached to estates, were subjected to a further four years
of 'apprenticed labour' wherein "such person shall be entitled to the services of such apprenticed
labourer as would for the time being have been entitled to his services as a Slave if this Act
had not been passed". 

Full emancipation was finally granted to all former slaves on August 1st 1838. 

Independence Day October 27
St. Vincent & the Grenadines achieved its independence from Great Britain in 1979.
The state remains a part of the British Commonwealth of Nations.   

Christmas Day December 25

Boxing Day December 26