BHS girls enact scenes about historical figure at special tea party
Over the past few weeks two girls from Saltus Grammar School, Nalani and Kayla Dowling, have been learning more about their family history.
They discovered that they were related to a Sarah Catherine who lived in the 1800s.
On May 3rd they were hostesses at an afternoon tea party, organised by their cousin, Trudy Snaith, where young girls could experience traditional Bermudian customs.
These included banana leaf doll making, afternoon tea and talking with Sarah Catherine, who was played by Kayla Dowling.
This was all organised to encourage young people to take pride in their heritage and history because it is very important to our lives.
Recently Nalani and Kayla Dowling have been researching their family history using their family Bible that has a listing of all of the births and deaths in the family, and their dad, Dr. Henry Schyler Dowling, has filed the family history on a programme on his computer.
The Bible is owned by their dad and the entries date back to 1858, Sarah Catherine's birth year, and her marriage to James Anthony Dowling on May 14, 1879.
According to family history, Sarah Catherine and her family lived in St. George's.
Although they don't know what type of work Sarah Catherine's real father did, they know that her son Henry Ernest Austin Dowling (the girls' great grandfather) was a cobbler.
Kayla and Nalani discovered that they were related to people that are alive today that they did not know they were related to.
For the purposes of the afternoon tea, they imagined that she was the daughter of a shoe cobbler that lived during the 1600s.
Information about Sarah Catherine can be seen at the Executive School of Protocol website.
Some of this information includes, "Living in Bermuda in the 1650s, Sarah Catherine is very much like little girls of today.
She has cousins in faraway places like Jamestown, Virgina the American settlement, she plays with dolls, she helps at home and she likes making new friends."
At the afternoon tea party on May 3rd, for girls age six to twelve, Sarah Catherine (who was played by Kayla) was a special guest.
At the tea party the girls were shown how to make traditional Bermuda banana leaf dolls.
They were also given the opportunity to ask questions of Sarah Catherine about how her life was different and similar to theirs.
Nalani helped with historical accuracy of the answers, using the Internet and Bermuda books to learn more about the chores Sarah Catherine would have done and toys she would have played with, some of which were similar to those we play today, though with different names.
"Dressing up as Sarah Catherine was scary and fun to do. It was amazing to answer all of the questions like I was her (Sarah Catherine) and to try it imagine what it would be like to live in the 1600s. I would definitely do it again," said Kayla.
Nalani and Kayla Dowling believe it is good to know about your family history and ancestors so that you are connected with the past and learn from their mistakes.
"This can influence how you live your life for the better because you understand you roots and your heritage so you can improve upon what was already there," Nalani explained.
They would definitely encourage other young people to research their family history and heritage, or even just to learn about the heritage of Bermuda so that they can appreciate some of the things that we take for granted in life.
