October is always the month when Jamaicans turn their attention to their cultural heritage. National Heroes Day is Monday, October 17, 2022, at the end of Heritage Week, which begins on October 8 with an Interfaith Service at the University of the West Indies Chapel (I like this). President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, His Imperial Highness, Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie, will be the nation’s special guest for Heritage Week.

But our national heritage is about more than National Heroes and special guests, important as they may be. It is also about the corners of our island where traditional practices survive (or try to) – not in the limelight so much, but all important. A year ago, the Wattle and Red Earth WARE Collective held a Virtual Art Auction. It was very well supported, raising US$15,000 towards the repurposing and reassembling of their very first Spanish Wall…