Sihle Sharrieff-Hayward

September 21, 2015

Preserving Our Heritage

Importance of Preserving our Heritage

The word preserve means to maintain something in its original state. The word heritage is
something that belongs to one by inheritance. Therefore, the act of preserving our heritage means
to maintain the things that belong to you by inheritance from its original state. Heritage is
important to preserve, So that it doesnt disappear over next generations, it also makes us unique,
and lastly it helps mistakes made in the past not re occur.
Bermudas heritage can be displayed in various ways such as food, holidays, festivals,
and by laws & regulations. Bermuda is known for its Codfish, which we eat mostly on Sunday
mornings and potatoes, peas and rice, cassava pie on Christmas dinner. Traditional day like
Emancipation Day which is when slavery was abolished in Bermuda, is celebrated by a two day
cricket game called Cup match. Bermuda has Bermuda Heroes Day where they celebrate the
many heroes who contributed to Bermudas history. Good Friday is when we fly kites to
celebrate the freeing of our spirits, just to name a few. Gombeys are a significant part of our
Heritage because they are a replication of the dancing slaves did when slavery occurred. Also
rules and regulations can help to preserve our heritage, for example the rule that a house cannot
be taller than the Cathedral church or the parliament house from the shore line. Also that our
houses are coloured in pastel colours and the roofs are white. These are some things we have to
preserve because they make Bermuda unique.
Its important for next generations to know their heritage, because as stated by an
anonymous writer, you cant go anywhere in life, if you dont know where you came. If our
next generation does not know about these significant things, Bermuda will no longer be the
same. For example, if Bermuda every Sunday since 1834 we have had codfish breakfast and that
is now a part of our heritage, if all the generations until 2010 have known this they will know to
continue this but if the years of 2010 people do not share this information with their next
generation and in 2012 people start making eggs and bacon than this will no longer bee apart of
Bermudas heritage. So if the people of 2012 knew about this tradition, it would not be changed
and our heritage would stay in place. Although they say change is good, keeping Bermuda the
same is a necessity because if changes are made we will never know what the norm or original
beauty was like.
Lastly, preserving our heritage is important because it helps mistakes made in the past not
reoccur. For example, we make our houses out of limestone. This protects us from hurricanes
tsunamis, and or tornadoes and our houses stay standing. Since this rule was put in place, it
would not make sense to start to make our houses out of wood if all these years a house made
from limestone has proven to be best for our Bermuda climate. Also if a law was made that
houses could be as tall as they want to be and then every day since that day the houses get struck
by planes because the houses are in obstructive areas then now we will know that houses have to

be a certain height so that those mistakes cannot happen again. This is why preserving our
heritage for mistakes not to reoccur is important because who wants more work to do if the work
could have been avoided from previous knowledge.
In conclusion, in Preserving Bermudas heritage means to keep traditions or things of
value to the place the same so it doesnt disappear and it will make our island unique.