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Public holiday in Suriname commemorating the abolition of slavery (1 July 1863)
Ketikoti
(
IPA
[?k?ti
?k?ti]
ⓘ
) sometimes spelled as
Keti Koti
(
Sranantongo
: "the chain is cut" or "the chain is broken"),
[1]
[2]
or officially
Dag der Vrijheden
(
Dutch
: Day of the Freedoms) is an annual celebration on 1 July that marks
Emancipation Day
in
Suriname
. The day is also known as
Manspasi Dei
or
Prisiri Manspasi
, meaning "Emancipation" or "Emancipation Festival".
[3]
or
Kettingsnijden
(Dutch: chain cutting).
Ketikoti
marks the date when
slavery
was abolished in
Surinam (Dutch colony)
in 1863. However, enslaved people in Surinam would not be fully free until 1873, after a mandatory 10-year transition period during which time they were required to work on the
plantations
for minimal pay and with state sanctioned force: if they were discovered outside without a pass, they could be jailed.
[4]
On June 30, 1963, the
statue of Kwakoe
was unveiled in Paramaribo, Suriname's capital city to commemorate the abolition of slavery.
After 1873 many slaves left the plantations where they had worked for several generations, in favor of the city of
Paramaribo
. The former slave keepers were compensated. For the 32,911 released people that were kept as slaves in Suriname, an amount of ? 9,867,780.00 (In 2020 about €250 million) was paid to the slave keepers.
[5]
As of 2009 several cities in the Netherlands hosted various activities, making this day a day of national celebration and remembrance throughout the country.
[5]
Since 2002 there is an official monument for remembrance of slavery in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands
. This
Nationaal Monument Slavernijgeschiedenis
("National Monument Slavery History") is in the
Oosterpark
in
Amsterdam
. The
Keti Koti
festival
[6]
marks the date when slavery was abolished in Suriname and the
Dutch Antilles
in 1863. The festival organisation also aims to pressure the
Dutch government
for reparations and research. As of 2020, it is still unclear when the first slaves arrived.
[5]
Kwakoe statue
in
Paramaribo
, representing a former slave whose chains are cut
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Ketikoti
.