A record crowd gathered on at La Digue for the island's parish feast of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption on August 15. Virtually the entire population of the island turned up for the procession, the highlight of the event.
Ferry boats from Mahe and Praslin shuttled back and forth, each time carrying over 150 passengers who converged on La Digue for this yearly festivity. The presence of a cardinal and archbishop, one of them a papal representative was a first on this overwhelmingly Catholic island and probably was a contributing factor to draw the crowds.
However, many who had also gone to La Digue to" feast" and to have fun and generally have a good time with girlfriends or boyfriends were disappointed. There were few stalls and hardly any dances. These days everything is so politicised and everything run by district administration officials. Gone are the days when Despilly Williams sang “Roule, roule pti Aroha, Tanto nou a dans kot Ton Bouke". Instead everyone reminisced over John Writz’s “Botan Botan in Fini Ale”. La Digue parish feast attracted a record crowd but they were hardly entertained. We hope that the La Digue Development Board, the MNA, the District Administrator and the “King” have all noted this fact……