Written piece
My Navel String Is Here
Floree Whyte
Antigua and Barbuda
About this piece
My story explains the phrase 'my navel string is buried here.' It was a tradition of older generations. Now we use the phrase to declare our strong ties to our roots and heritage. The story describes the meaning of this phrase, through Grandma Ida, the sibling who didn't migrate.
“Grandma how come you didn’t migrate with your sisters?” Nadia studies her grandmother’s tear-stained face. Her sisters had just left for the airport after their grand family reunion. Grandma Ida sits under the mango tree with a bowl of mangoes between her legs, her special comfort food. Grandma Ida glances up and extends her arms to Nadia. Nadia sits and snuggles next to her.
“It’s because my navel string is buried here.” Grandma Ida pats the ground next to her. A strong breeze swirls through the backyard, the leaves rustle and two mangoes fall next to them, plop, plop.
“What does that mean?” Nadia stretches and retrieves the mangoes.
“Well, my mother told me that she took my navel string and buried it after I was born. And that many generations before her did it, stretching back to our African roots. For me it means that I belong here. My navel string tied me like a thread to my mother and now to Antigua. It ties me to the sweet Benna music and the iron band. It ties me to frying fish on my coal pot and boiling my daily cup of bush tea. Every morning, when I go for my sea bath, I feel how the water gently pushes me back to shore. When I place my feet on this soil it ties me to every person who has ever walked this land.”
Nadia smiles, wriggling her toes in the grass.
“Nadia darling, a ya me born!” Grandma Ida pounds her chest. This place would never leave me. It’s tied to me, it’s tied to you and we are the threads that make up this land.”