The North Carolina Rice Festival’s Gullah Geechee Community Riverwalk Processional

Name: The North Carolina Rice Festival’s Gullah Geechee Community Riverwalk Processional
Start: 2025-03-08T09:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-03-08T10:15:00-05:00
Location: Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site

Schedule

Sat Mar 08 2025 at 09:30 am to 10:15 am

UTC-05:00

Location

Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site | Carolina Beach, NC

JOIN US...as we launch a new tradition at the 2025 Festival site: THE GULLAH GEECHEE COMMUNITY RIVERWALK PROCESSIONAL!
(NOTE: This event will take place just before the opening of the 2025 Festival.)
TRADITIONALLY, in Gullah Geechee communities...
“goin’ to tha river” provided an opportunity for all to honor and pay tribute to those ancestors who endured the Middle Passage and enriched the areas where they landed with their labor, ingenuity, creativity, and wit.
We ask (but do not require) participants to wear white or light-colored clothing and to bring any coins or other items they wish to use in offering prayers to our revered ancestors.
We we will gather for the processional as a group at 9:30 a.m. on the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson grounds near the historic church ruins.
At 9:45, the group will begin the solemn march to the river’s edge, where a ceremonial offering will be made, with song, dance, and tributes of flowers, honey, and cinnamon to symbolize life's sweetness and value.
Afterwards, the group will march back to the Festival's Gullah Geechee Corridor Stage for a presentation highlighting the Riverwalk's significance to the Gullah Geechee community prior to the Festival’s opening performances/presentations at 10:30 a.m.