Celebrating La Woz Flower Festival 2019

The Rose Society’s annual La Woz (Antillean creole for ‘The Rose’) celebration will culminate on Friday 30 August.

The Grand Fete (Gwan Fèt) comes after months of séances or nightly singing practices in preparation for the special flower festival. The tunes have African and French heritage and date back to the days of slavery. The singing is led by a ‘chatwel’ who writes and composes the songs.

The festival is dedicated to its namesake flower and is held on the Feast Day of St Rose of Lima – Isabel Flores de Oliva.

According to Catholic Online, Isabel was born in Lima, Peru in April 1586 and died August 1617 after living a life of piety and prayer. She was made a saint in 1671 and is the patron saint of South America.

On Friday, several La Woz groups, including those from Desruisseaux, Choiseul, Monchy, Castries, Laborie, and Soufriere will gather for a church service followed by a colourful parade through the streets.

The groups will then take part in various presentations before continuing the celebrations in their local communities.

The gatherings are presided over by a King and Queen, who are surrounded by an entourage of mock princes and princesses, magistrates, doctors, soldiers, policemen, nurses, and clergy. All the participants wear costumes in the traditional colours of red, white and pink.

La Woz is one of two societies in Saint Lucia which holds an annual flower festival – the other is La Marguerite.

These traditional folk events are brimming with pomp and pageantry, traditional costumes, food, song and dance and play an important role in preserving and celebrating St Lucia’s rich and unique cultural history. 

Sources: Catholic Online / Calabash Cove / St Lucian Government / Tropical Traveller