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CARIBBEAN CULTURE

The Caribbean has managed to bring together several characteristics that appear to remove the geographic borders and differences between the countries of the region. Each island has a unique cultural identity shaped by the European colonialists, the African heritage of slaves and the native Indian tribes. Cultures of the Caribbean are a mixture of colonial mainstays and pervasive influences of the region’s major ethnic groups. Nevertheless, the Caribbean is undoubtedly shaped, formed and connected by music, food,religion,languages, sports, celebrations and traditional festivals. These attributes bring the Caribbean together, it encourages us to remain one, to protect each other in our hardest times and love one another. The saying “All ah we is one”is undeniably true.

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LANGUAGES

Within the Caribbean, the languages of Europe’s colonial powers were blended with various African languages that came about during the first slavery era in the Caribbean and , to a lesser extent, indigenous languages. These languages were called “Creoles”. Creoles are languages in their own right, representing the regional hybrid cultures. Creole languages are authentic expressions of the Caribbean nation’s identities. There are French-Creole, English-Creole,Spanish-Creole, and Dutch-Creole. The French-Creole is spoken in Martinique, Guadeloupe, St.Lucia and Dominica. The Spanish-Creole is spoken in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao and the English-Creole is spoken in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Vincent, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. It is clear that the creole languages of the Caribbean constitute a family of languages, even though we speak the different variations of the creole languages it is a unique  fragment that unites us as one.

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CARICOM

Caricom was formed in 1973 after the founders had enacted the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The Caribbean Community and Common Market is a group of twenty developing countries in the Caribbean that have come together to form an economic and political community that works together to shape policies for the region and encourages economic growth and trade and further development of activity in international markets.

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FESTIVALS AND CELEBRATIONS

Celebrations and Festivals allow us to present our creative vitalities. Each country of the Caribbean has at least one event for the year. Some may include Carnival, Jazz Festivals, Crop-Over, Reggae Fes and Phagwa. Nevertheless, each festival tends to bring the Caribbean together with its uniqueness.

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Jazz Festivals

Jazz emerged out of and is rooted in the phenomenon of African slavery in the New World. Within time annual Jazz festivals have emerged and going strong in the Caribbean for decades;some include: Saint Lucia Jazz, Caribbean Sea Jazz Festivals, St. Kitts Music Festivals and Tobago Jazz Experience.

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Phagwa

The festival has religious meaning as a celebration of rebirth and renewal. This cheerful celebration in the Caribbean is known as “Phagwah” and is held around the first full moon in March to mark the end of the Hindu calendar's. The focus of the festival though, are intense dyes of various colours which are strewn about as powder or mixed with water and squirted on one another. As the festival goes on Traditional Indian dancers show their movement and Chutney Soca fuels throughout.

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Crop-Over Festival

The Crop-Over Festival is Barbados’ most popular and colourful festival. At the end of the sugar season, there is always a huge celebration to mark the culmination of another successful sugar cane harvest. Crop-Over Festival includes features like folk concerts, art, photographic exhibitions and Calypso.

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Carnival

Carnival is a two day celebration that usually takes place before lent and is best known in Trinidad and Tobago where it originated. Carnival Monday begins with “Jouvert”, where persons parade through the streets soaked in mud, paint and grease till sunrise.

For the duration of the day and all of Carnival Tuesday thousands flood the streets in colourful and bold costumes dancing to the sounds of Soca,Steel Pan and Calypso music.

Carnival is an event where individuals can express themselves, meet new people and become one. It’s really the best time of the year.

Carnival is held during different times of year in any number of islands including: Antigua,Aruba,Curacao,Cayman Islands,Dominica Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, St.Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Maarten.

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MUSIC

Caribbean music is colourful and diverse. It came from traditions from African cultures, Indigenous peoples, European colonialism and the unique character of places separated by water. Music has been crucial to the Caribbean culture since the days of slavery; it was a mode for mental survival and a form of recreation. Today, Caribbean music plays in streets,homes, resorts and at special festivals. Culture on islands develops in a distinctive way and each musical style is incompatible yet they bring us together in a strange way. The music of the Caribbean will surely add another layer of memories to locals and tourists. Some musical styles are Calypso, Steel Pans, Reggae and Soca.

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Reggae

Reggae may be one the best-known Caribbean music styles and it comes from Jamaica. The reggae genre came into being in the 1960’s as an evolution of the Rock-steady and Ska musical styles. Reggae music is a soulful entertainment in Jamaica. It expresses in words the pain,struggle, hope and emotion that is felt by the average person. During the period of reggae’s development, a connection grew between the music and the Rastafarian Movement.

Bob Marley and The Wailers were the vehicle to take reggae music and Rastafari to the world. Today Rastafarian’s most popular symbol is Bob Marley.

Reggae music has a special quality that just makes you want to sing and be happy. It has been an influence to many. It brings a sense of unity and equality and breaks down any barriers preventing anything opposite.

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Steel Pans

Steel Pans developed in Trinidad by combining earlier African percussion traditions with used oil drums, the cast off materials of war. The playing surface of the drum was pounded into concave shape to produce tones when hit with a stick. The steel-pan became a cultural vehicle, its development was moulded by the ethnic influence of Caribbean heritage. Competitions have emerged and become a part of the steel-pan movement . Today individuals all over the world especially in the Caribbean have been learning to play and it has also been increased in schools.

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Calypso

Calypso is considered Afro-Caribbean music. It developed out of the West African tribal songs that came to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago when French settlers brought African slaves to Trinidad. Calypso features a steady driving rhythm element of call-and-response and improvised verses. Calypso plays a huge role in Carnival celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago. Calypso has become such a huge influence in Caribbean that most islands have amazing artists, namely, “The Mighty Sparrow” ,” Lord Kitchener”, “Calypso Rose”, “Arrow”, “Ras Shorty I” and many more.

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CARIBBEAN CUISINE

Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of African, Creole, European, Middle Eastern and Chinese.

Food serves as a means of sustenance, and as a means to bring families and communities together. In the Caribbean, food is a testament of our history, an accredit of the land we live on, a product of our culture and a response to our needs.

The variation of the Caribbean cuisine is a product of the multicultural nature of our West Indian islands.

In the Caribbean, there are many fruits and vegetables, thus we can use our natural resources to make meals that are fulfilling and luscious. Each region has their unique experiences and naturally gravitates towards certain cuisine.

For example, a well known dish in Trinidad is “Doubles”. It has become so popular that people from most countries male them. In Jamaica, a favorite is Jerk pork or roast yam and in Barbados its fish cakes.

Each set of persons who came to the Caribbean has brought special dishes. The Native Amerindians introduced the technique of Barbecuing. The colonists introduced bacon and eggs, roast beef, pancakes, sponge cakes, rice pudding, smoked herring and hot cross buns. African foods were coo coo, callaloo, fish cakes and many one pot meals. The Chinese indentured immigrants introduced cuisine that made use of a variety of ingredients, they cooked with cashew,noodles, sweet and sour sauces and soy sauce.

Today, each ethnic group showed their cultural pride and identity through food. The choice of food is remarkable and everyone is free to enjoy anyone of these popular cuisines.

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Soca

Soca music originated as a fusion of calypso with Indian rhythms, thus combining the musical traditions to the two major ethnic groups of Trinidad and Tobago. It emerged in the 1970’s and is most popularly attributed to the calypsonian Ras Shorty I.

Eventually, Soca hatched several sub-groups; Chutney-Soca, Power-Soca, Gospel-Soca, Ragg-Soca and Groovy-Soca. In Soca music there is something for everyone. Each Caribbean country has played an important role in influencing and popularising soca internationally. Today the Soca industry has become massive.

From Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, Crop-Over Festival in Barbados and Spice Mas in Grenada, Soca dominates the roads and makes the crowd move.

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Rugby

Rugby has become very popular throughout the Caribbean, even giving rise to the West Indies Rugby Union, which is home to a number of Caribbean organizations of rugby teams. During rugby season individuals can watch a match in any of the following islands: Bermuda,Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Barbados,Guadeloupe, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic,Jamaica,St.Lucia, Martinique, St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.

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SPORTS

Sports in the Caribbean can be incontrovertibly characterized as a social and cultural phenomenon. Sports act as a force that brings individuals together and provide a sense of unity and identification with the athletes who represent them at the international level. By way of sports, nationalism is reinforced and colonialism is resisted. Sports additionally provide further reasons to get out of the house and connect with others who share a common goal. Numerous sports are practiced in the Caribbean but the following are the most popular:

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Cricket

Cricket in the West Indies is a binding social force and a means of self-affirmation which gives the Caribbean people a sense of purpose and a common identity. Cricket is the most popular sport in the Caribbean. Although imported, this sport has been domesticated and transformed into a vehicle for emerging nationalist and democratic ideas. It became a unifying link among Caribbean countries with the creation of teams from fifteen territories under the same uniform and that  has become a symbol of Caribbean unification. For example, In Trinidad, Brian Lara holds the individual record with 501 runs in a match. In Bermuda, the most important holiday is the Cup Match, a two day summer festival. A major event associated with cricket is the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Caribbean Premier League is a T20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. CPL draws the attention of millions of people around the world . Around this time of the year Caribbean people tends to put aside any sort of hate and discrimination among ethnic groups but instead form bonds with one another. In each stadium for every game the atmosphere is filled with soca,tassa, laughter and good-naturally but extremely loud screaming as the games take place. In this environment everyone is happy and a sense of unity is formed.