For many years, Antoninus Thomas has donned the crown as La Marguerite King of the Dennery Marguerite Society. He has done it with much pomp and pride, while believing strongly that the royalties of such groups should be recognised in much the same way as the Carnival queen and others. Thomas has also been recognised by his group as one of their cultural icons and is known at the national level for his participation in discussions on culture.
“Today, October 17, the feast of La Marguerite is actually 40 years since I have been a king,” Thomas gushed at the Grande Fete La Marguerite in La Ressource, Dennery.
Discussing his longevity as King, he said, “My love for this festival and culture in general.”
Thomas told St. Lucia Times that he is passionate about Saint Lucia’s culture and over the years has immersed himself in various forms, including dance and costume designing. “I’m a Mas lover, I love calypso, I am a choreographer, I have my own dance group — anything cultural, I am in it,” he said gleefully.
However, as a proponent of Saint Lucia’s culture, he believes that enough is not being done to promote indigenous festivals like the La Marguerite.
“You see, events like La Marguerite is a one-off, once-a-year, show-off kind of thing. As a matter of fact, at our meeting with CDF [Cultural Development Foundation], I said to them, ‘If you want our groups to get the same prominence as Carnival, say, for example, why is it that the Carnival Queen gets invited to all national, all cultural events, Independence, and all kinds of activities. Why can we not invite the La Marguerite and the La Rose royalty as guests at those cultural and national festivals, so it gets a sort of prominence?’”
This is one way in which Thomas says a statement can be made that cultural Kings and Queens are valued and are important. “So the younger ones coming up can realise the importance which is placed on the La Woz and La Marguerite and can now be drawn to the culture and aspire to be a King or Queen one day,” Thomas contended.
“You see, people only react to things according to the way we treat them, and if they are very low on our list of what we call recognised items, then they are going to remain there. So until we big them up, the public is not going to.”
The La Marguerite groups, Thomas says, are faced with the additional challenge of attracting new members.
“There has been an attrition in all the groups. Some groups have had to take on membership drives and go to the mothers and fathers groups and all of those things and that is commendable because that is what you want to do, to grow the festival. But in certain groups, those organisers, the people who are the key people, have so many other roles that that sometimes makes it difficult to drive interest towards the groups.”
He explained to St. Lucia Times that while his group has suffered the same fate, there has been discussion about going on an all-out education and membership drive to increase numbers.
“I must, however, commend those who are there for their passion and just their willingness to be there every year so that this group does not fail,” he says.
When asked what the future holds for him, he replied: “Whatever it is that the Lord holds for me. I’m not somebody who likes planning things way in advance. I take things every day, one day at a time, but I still go ahead with little plans and whatever, but as far as I see it, if the Lord keeps me, this is definitely a part of my future.”
