Meaning
A wind instrument made from a cow's horn, blown to send messages and signals across the hills. The Maroons used the abeng to communicate and coordinate their movements during their long wars of resistance against the British, its calls carrying orders and warnings over the forested mountains where the redcoats could not follow. A proud symbol of Maroon heritage and of African survival and defiance, the abeng endures in Maroon ceremony and in the national memory as an emblem of freedom won and never surrendered.
Examples
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Di Maroon dem blow di abeng inna di hills.
The Maroons blew the abeng in the hills.
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Di abeng call di people together.
The abeng called the people together.
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Him learn fi blow di abeng from him granfada.
He learned to blow the abeng from his grandfather.
Origin
From the Akan word 'abɛn' (horn), carried to Jamaica by enslaved Africans and preserved by the Maroon communities.
How it’s used
Deeply tied to Maroon history and resistance. Still sounded at Maroon ceremonies and celebrations.