It was a jubilee: Sarah Darling-Finlay remembers 1962

WESTERN BUREAU:

Sarah Darling-Finlay remembers being among the crowd that converged on Parade (now Sam Sharpe Square), downtown Montego Bay, to witness the appearance of Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II.

“My sixth child, Grace, was a baby, so I left her with my sister’s mother, who lived at Railway Lane, because I wanted to be part of the excitement and the historic moment,” the 85-year-old great grandmother, who goes by the name ‘Modda Sarah’, told The Gleaner.

It was a jubilee, Darling-Finlay added, immense pride in her voice, as she reminisced on the thousands who flocked the town square, waving flags to the late British princess, who was passing through on a military truck.

The princess was wearing a bright yellow dress, matching hat, similar to the type of headpiece you would see Queen Elizabeth wear. The princess, who died in 2002, was representing her sister during Jamaica’s Independence celebrations in 1962.

Montegonians, like Darling-Finlay, were out early because they feared missing the lily white-looking woman, who they expected to reflect the ones they read of in the story books. For them, this was what beauty looked like. “And she was indeed beautiful,” said Darling-Finlay.

Princess Margaret was about 32 years old when she visited Jamaica, and Finlay said all she did was to stand on the truck waving to the people. “She never spoke a word, and we never expected her to.”

Darling-Finlay said the princess was one of the many stars she watched in the historic square, named in honour of National Hero Samuel Sharpe. She was also there to witness the coming of King Haile Selassie.

For the mother of seven, Independence Day was meaningful, not because she necessarily understood the true meaning, but because of the fun and joyous occasion which occurred in the community squares and the reverence give to the national colour - black, green and gold.

“Not the true meaning of Independence, I was more interested in the ceremony; the dancing and the celebration,” she admitted.

With Independence came the changes made to the currency. The official currency was no longer British, and the Jamaican dollar was born. “In the beginning, it looked strange, and difficult to adapt to. Sometimes we weren’t sure how much change we were to get back when we bought something in the shop,” she quipped.

Modda Sarah was fearful of giving wrong information to The Gleaner readers, stating that at 85 her memory is not as great, but one thing she doubts will leave her memories, is the Festival Songs sung by groups such as Toots and the Maytals.

“It was the period of the ska movement and dancing was like exercise, “ she added, noting that the way their bodies moved in sync with the music, caused them not to need any type of extra workout.