TRANSART and Cultural Services presented the first annual Pinkster: Joy Is an Act of Resistance with a three-day event that is rooted in the shared history of Ulster County residents and those who value African-American traditions. According to Historic Hudson Valley, Pinkster is a holiday celebrated over several days by African and Dutch New Yorkers throughout the 1700s. It was brought to the New World by Dutch settlers in the 1620s and flourished in the areas of heaviest Dutch settlement: the Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey and western Long Island. Africans in NY and NJ were so successful at incorporating their own cultures into the celebration that by the early 1800s, Pinkster was actually considered an African-American holiday. The Pinkster holiday afforded enslaved Africans the opportunity to reunite with loved ones and family members who often lived some distance away. There was game-playing, dance, drinking and music at these gatherings with vendors adoring market stalls with greenery and flowers (azaleas are associated with Pinkster), and European vendors hired skillful African dancers to draw crowds to their booths.
Join the family! 
