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NANNY DAY FESTIVAL

Each year on Jamaica’s National Heroes Day weekend, the Moore Town Maroons host the Grandy Nanny Day Festival — a three-day celebration of the life, legacy, and spirit of Queen Nanny of the Maroons, National Heroine of Jamaica, warrior-leader, and mother of the nation.

 

Held at the Asafo Yard Playfield in Moore Town, Portland Parish — the historic capital founded by Nanny in 1740 — the festival honors centuries of Maroon resistance, autonomy, culture, and survival. It brings home Maroons from across the island and across the world, as well as Jamaicans and international visitors who wish to learn from and celebrate this living heritage community.

The Grandy Nanny Day Festival features:

 

  • Traditional Maroon ceremonies, songs, and Kromanti drumming

  • Kumina and other Afro-Jamaican cultural traditions

  • Processions and rites at Bump Grave, the resting place and national monument of Queen Nanny

  • Cultural presentations, lectures, workshops, and the Maroon Language Conference

  • Performances by leading Jamaican Maroon artists, including past appearances by artists Sizzla Kolanji and Popcaan

  • Sound system celebrations and contemporary Jamaican music

  • Traditional cuisine, herbal knowledge, and ancestral foodways

  • Crafts, bamboo and straw work, drum-making, and natural arts

  • Sporting events on the community football/cricket field

  • Tours to sacred and natural sites and other attractions — Nanny Falls, Pumpkin Hill, Watch Hill, Swinging Bridge, Katawud Village, river baths, trails, and ancestral spaces

  • Community homestays, guest houses, and camping experiences with Maroon families

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The festival unites the Maroon towns of Jamaica — including Moore Town, Scotts Hall, Charles Town, Flagstaff, and Accompong — alongside participation from global indigenous and African-Diaspora communities, such as the Taino, Garifuna, Māori, and African traditional leaders and royalty. Government leaders, diplomats, scholars, and cultural ambassadors also attend, reflecting the deep national and international importance of the Maroons.

 

As one of the oldest continuous freedom-fighting communities in the world, Moore Town welcomes guests to learn, reason, and celebrate — while supporting local families, artisans, farmers, guides, and youth. The festival injects vital income into the Rio Grande Valley and creates pathways for sustainable community development rooted in culture, land, and legacy.

 

Above all, Grandy Nanny Day is an act of remembrance and renewal — honoring the woman who led her people to autonomy, shaped Jamaica’s identity, and continues to inspire freedom struggles across the African Diaspora.

 

Come walk the ancestral paths. Hear the drums. Share the food. Celebrate the spirit of Nanny and the people she built.

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