It all happened at Agrifest 2025 when a fairgoer came up to my exhibit and said, “Are you the Olasee?” I said, “Oh God, what did I have done now,” jokingly. To be honest, I never thought in my “wildest dream” that I would be in such high demand locally. Not just locally but people around the world contact me seeking information on various topics, whether cultural, historical, natural, or wanting me to work with them on a research project about the environment or some other aspect of Virgin Islands history.
This fairgoer, Joy Stanley, wanted to know where she could find Wahree seeds on St. Croix. I tried to get out of it by telling her that I am so busy that I don’t know when I would be able to assist her with getting the seeds. Finally, I say to her, call me at my office. The Gray knicker, as we call it locally (Caesalpinia bonduc), is an evergreen perennial creeping vine that grows along some of our coastal areas and beaches. Every part of the vine, including the backs of the leaves, is armed with sharp spines.
The yellow flowers develop into spiny seed pods and contain one or two seeds. The split pods hold the seeds, rather like a nest of eggs, until the pods disintegrate. These beach seeds were once used in a popular game known as Oware (Wahree) in the Virgin Islands. The Oware game arrived in the Danish West Indies over 200 years ago when people were kidnapped from Africa as enslaved Africans to the Americas. According to Zoraida Jacobs, a former colleague of mine in the School of Agriculture, Oware (Wahree) probably is the world’s oldest game dating over 6,000 years.
Our parents and great-grandparents remember the game as “Wahree.” In those days, holes were made in the ground and the game was played with small shells, stones, and nickel. Later, Oware boards were made from mahogany. About six round holes were made on each side of the board each about two inches deep, where seeds were placed. You started off playing with about 48 seeds. However, the number of seeds in the game varied. The game is played in a clockwise fashion. Four seeds are in each hole at the start of the game.
The Wahree game originated in Africa but is played in various forms in most counties in the world. It is considered by many experts to be one of the finest strategy games ever developed. There is no luck involved in Oware. The outcome depends solely on the skills of the players. According to Zoraida Jacobs, “Stone cuttings representing Oware boards have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, on the walls of pre-historic caves, and on rock ledges bordering caravan trails in the Middle East and Asia.”
The stakes of the game vary from country to country and from one age to another. African natives wagered anything from a bowl of rice or a cow, used as a bride price. Whereas wealthy merchants and ancient kings played for slaves as well as for precious metals and gems. Today, stones or beans are used in place of jewels, and as in the long ago, the winner takes all. By the 20th century, the Wahree game in the Virgin Islands slowly began to fall by the wayside like many other cultural traditions of the islands, including the Cariso (music) and the bamboula, which made somewhat of a comeback, an African dance.
Joy Stanley and others in the community are willing to teach the youngest the game of Wahree. In fact, Joy told me she makes the Wahree board. Believe me, she is very creative. She was so excited after I took her and her friend, Kestusm Tatum, a teacher from Eulalie Rivera Elementary School, out to collect the Wahree seeds. Joy said it best when she emailed me thanking me for the opportunity she and Kestusm had in collecting the seeds.
“Good Marnin Olasee! I can’t find words to tell you how privileged and exciting it was picking Wari seeds on Sunday. I felt like a kid in a candy park. I could imagine our parents or their parents, picking Wair seeds from the same place we picked them, and then taking them home to play the game. I don’t know why I’m so excited about this game. I remember playing it for hours and hours as a child, though. I would even play by myself. I thank you thank you thank you for this privilege! Ohhh, Tatum and I would love to go on the hike to other Wari seeds spots you spoke about. All dih bes, Joy Stanley.”
Oware is an Ashanti word meaning long distance and Wahree means “he marries.” According to our elders in the community, the game was played for two reasons: First, to create communication between parent and child, and second as a time of relaxation and sharing of wisdom and proverbs. The exchange of proverbs was a common practice for Africans while playing the Wahree game. One proverb goes like this: A person does not cut a walking stick and to be taller than them. Meaning, one does not bear a child and expect the child to rule them.
Another proverb is as follows: It does not take a person born on a hill, to be very tall. This meaning is that one can be born in a humble home and become an important person. The Wahree game has been played in other Caribbean islands. On the island of Antigua, for example, the game of Wahree is huge with competition. Today, our children don’t know the game. They knew of the seed by rubbing it against a hard surface and placing the hot seed on their skin for a burning sensation.
Who knows, Joy and Kestum are probably onto something big. They can revive the Wahree game by teaching our young people whereby it becomes a big sport in the Virgin Islands again, and beyond the shore of these islands. After all, Wahree is African and so are we.
— Olasee Davis is a bush professor who lectures and writes about the culture, history, ecology and environment of the Virgin Islands when he is not leading hiking tours of the wild places and spaces of St. Croix and beyond.
