“Bermuda Onion Day” To Be Held On May 17th

Bermuda will be celebrating “Bermuda Onion Day” on Saturday the 17th May from 10am to 4pm at Carter House in St David’s.

The promo flyer said, “Sit off in the Carter House grounds surrounded by roses, endemic and native plants and trees and sample some traditional and in some cases very unusual onion dishes.

“Tour Carter House Museum with our Curator Dolores Harrison and with Larry Mills, learn about the Settler’s Dwelling c 1612, what we like to call the First Government House for Governor Richard Moore and his wife.

“The Plein Aire painters will be on site all day painting scenes Of Bermudan first 100 years Come and watch art in the process of creation. If you are lucky you may be able to purchase one before the paint is dry!”

Last year’s Bermuda Onion Day at Carter House:

Introduced to the island in the early 1600s, the sweet and succulent Bermuda onions was first exported to the East Coast from St. George’s in 1847.

Onions quickly became Bermuda’s major export crop, with hundreds of farmers realising the market potential. By the middle of the 19th century Bermudians became known as “Onions” and Bermuda itself was widely referred to as “The Onion Patch”.

Following World War One, although the onion export from Bermuda started again, the US imposed higher import duties slowing it down considerably. More over, by then a farmer community in the Texas started developing their own onions and even called them Bermuda Onions to sell and export them easily.

In the 1930s, Bermuda Trade Development Board tried to curb the trend by sending postcards to their overseas buyers that stated: “It is the flavour of a genuine ‘Bermuda’ that is so different.

But it was an exercise in futility and the era of Bermuda farmers exporting onions came to an end, with tourism replacing agriculture as the island’s economic mainstay. However the “Bermuda onion” nickname endures.

#BermudaOnionDay #BermudianCulture

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