On October 16, 1989, my mother went into labor with me. Hero’s Day in Jamaica. I was born a day later on the 18th of October—last Friday ( which means I’m celebrating my birthday for the rest of the month iykyk). Hero’s Day is when we honor special individuals who played crucial roles in bringing Jamaica to where she is now.
One of those individuals who has always held a special place in my heart and mind is Queen Nanny, the great 18th-century leader of the Windward Maroons. I dedicate this birthday newsletter to honoring her by sharing how she wielded her spiritual prowess against a mighty and tyrannical empire and won.
The Maroons were former slaves who escaped from both ships and plantations and created communities on parts of the Island that were inaccessible to the British.
Queen Nanny often led her group of 500 half-starving Maroons armed with her sacred knowledge in warfare, spiritual wisdom, and the topography of the land to repeated victories against the heavily armed and provisioned British empire. When people ask me about the power and purpose of spirituality in everyday life I think about Nanny and the Maroons.
One of Nanny’s tactics was an incredibly sophisticated system of camouflage she created and trained her soldiers in. While the British bungled their way into the forests with heavy black boots and bright red coats Maroon soldiers became a part of the forest covered in branches and leaves. Under Queen Nanny’s training, they developed incredible breath and motion control that enabled them to stay still for hours on end on the paths the British would take to try and find them. It is said, that the art of camouflage was perfected by the Maroons to such an extent that a British soldier would hang his coat on what he thought was a tree only for it to animate and chop his head off.
Much of what we know of Queen Nanny has been passed down through oral history and folklore. Most commonly she is said to have been born in Ghana and brought to Jamaica as a slave. Yet it is also said that she was born in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Other tales have her being born in West Africa and willingly being captured as a slave when she heard the call of her people suffering in slavery. Still, there is another tale of her coming to Jamaica as a free woman who may have even owned slaves herself. The mysterious nature of her origins is due to the African, and later Jamaican, tendency to use our ancestors as characters in our folktales.
Two stories give us insight into the strength, wit, and spiritual wisdom Queen Nanny held. They are Nanny’s Pot and the bullet-catching story.
Nanny’s pot was a big cauldron-like pot placed on a mountain path near the edge of a cliff. It is said that the pot boiled with no fire beneath it and when British soldiers would look inside they would pass out and fall to their deaths. The positioning of the pot made it so the following soldier couldn’t see that the one before him had just died investigating it and would thus meet the same fate. Legend has it that Queen Nanny used her vast spiritual knowledge of herbs to concoct a chloroform-like substance that caused the soldiers to lose consciousness. This use of herbal remedies was also used to cure and aid the Maroons in surviving the harsh conditions in which they lived. The location of Nanny’s pot is later said to have been a place on the mountain path where two rivers joined which gave the image of boiling water without a flame. Queen Nanny was famous for using her familiarity with the Jamaican Terrain to outwit the British.
The second story is the most famous. The Bullet Catching story. Queen Nanny is said to have caught British Bullets volley for volley with her bare hands whenever they shot at her. It has even been said that she would throw the bullets back at them! This story has deteriorated over time into a tale of Queen Nanny having caught the bullets with her backside. This version of the tale is the most well-known as you would presume. Either way, it depicts her incredible presence, skill, and body awareness.
A legendary figure who led her people to freedom and peace Queen Nanny teaches me that when we are spiritually connected to our image of the divine, our selves, and the Earth we can survive anything.
In 1734 after 6 years of fighting, sustaining immense losses, and never being able to defeat them the British sued the Maroons for Peace, and a Treaty was signed.
According to, A History of Queen Nanny by Karla Gottlieb, “The spiritual side of life was very important to the Maroons; it was not separated from the other parts of life. It was incorporated into military strategies, into the raising of children, and into the daily lives of the people.” The practice wasn’t relegated to one day a week and it wasn’t seen as something done to take care of themselves in the afterlife. It was something that sustained the people during their present lives through incredible challenges and against insurmountable odds. Queen Nanny is most revered as a spiritual leader and all the success that brought to her and her people speaks to the depth of power we all have access to when we connect our daily living with the divine energy that powers it.
Amazing, grateful for this reminder of our ancestors and our tendency to be one with the lands that we find ourselves in. Always grateful to read more perspectives about Queen Nanny. Happy belated Earthstrong!
What a powerful woman! Thank you for bringing her to light. And happy Solar Return!! May your nu year be an expansive one 🌞🌻✨