The Effigy That Burned Our Hard Times Away
For generations in Barbados, the end of the sugar cane harvest wasn’t just marked with music and revelry—it ended in fire. A towering effigy, known as Mr. Harding, was paraded through the streets and burned to ashes. To outsiders, it may have looked like a curious tradition. But for the people who lived it, burning Mr. Harding was a way to release pain, hardship, and the weight of survival.
Mr. Harding represented the “hard time”—that stretch between harvests when money was low, food was scarce, and life pressed in. He was dressed like a plantation overseer: tall, stern, made of cane trash, topped with a hat. A figure that reminded people of struggle. But by lighting him up, communities reclaimed their power. They turned fear into fuel. They danced as he burned, knowing they had made it through one more year.
Some say Mr. Harding was a direct nod to the colonial overseers, the system of labor and hierarchy that left deep scars on Barbadian life. Burning him wasn’t just a ritual—it was rebellion. A symbolic cleansing. A community saying, we see you, we survived you, and we’ll keep surviving.
The tradition of Mr. Harding dates back centuries and was revived in the 1970s during the formal revival of Crop Over. But by the end of that decade, the practice faded—quieted by shifting priorities and safety concerns. Yet the story lives on.
How We Bottled It
We made Burn Mr. Harding to honor that release. To hold space for the fire that cleanses, the memory that sharpens, and the spirit that refuses to be broken. It’s a sweet incense and unforgettable. A candle that smells like power and possibility.
Light it when you’re letting go. Light it when you’re starting again. Light it when you need to remember who you come from.
Because some things need to burn to make space for what’s next.