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Witness / Attend in Accompong
Accompong Maroon Festival
A self-governing Maroon town in the Cockpit Country hills of St. Elizabeth, western Jamaica. Founded by escaped enslaved Africans who won their freedom from the British in the 1739 peace treaty, Accompong keeps its own leadership and traditions, and each January its Maroon Festival draws thousands for drumming, the abeng horn, and the march to the Kindah tree.
No organizer, no ticket office. This is a living tradition, and the way in is simply to be there; guides get you inside it.
Why here
The Accompong Maroon Festival is one of the oldest surviving freedom celebrations in the Americas. Every 6 January, the mountain town of Accompong in the Cockpit Country marks the peace treaty of 1739 that ended the First Maroon War, when the British Crown recognised the freedom and self-government of the Leeward Maroons, communities of Africans who had escaped slavery and fought the colony to a standstill from the rugged interior. The date also honours Cudjoe, the diminutive, brilliant guerrilla leader who negotiated the treaty. Accompong is still a semi-autonomous Maroon territory with its own colonel and council, and on festival day its population swells from a few hundred to thousands. The day begins before dawn with a private ceremony, then opens into the blowing of the abeng, the cow-horn that once carried messages across the hills, goombay and gumbe drumming, singing, storytelling and a communal march to the sacred Kindah tree, where unsalted pork is cooked the old way. It is a living act of remembrance rather than a show put on for visitors, and outsiders are welcomed to witness it. For anyone drawn to the deeper history of the Caribbean and of resistance to slavery, there is nothing else quite like it.
Best months
The festival falls on 6 January every year, the anniversary of the 1739 treaty and Cudjoe's birthday, and runs as a single long day, with informal drumming and gathering the night before. It is an outdoor event in the hills, so expect sun, dust and crowds, and dress and behave respectfully as this is a sacred community occasion, not a resort attraction. The earliest ceremonies are private to the Maroons; the public celebration, drumming and Kindah tree march fill the rest of the day.
Getting there & around
Accompong sits deep in the Cockpit Country of St. Elizabeth, reached by winding hill roads from the Santa Cruz or Maggotty side, roughly a two to three hour drive from Montego Bay or Negril and longer from Kingston. There is little formal infrastructure in the town, so most visitors come for the day with their own vehicle or on an arranged tour and leave before dark. Go early to find parking and a spot for the ceremonies.
Skill levels: beginner
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