2. Culture and Caribbean Festivals
• The Caribbean region can be described as a
sphere of cultural variety.
• According to John Campbell, Caribbean culture
and cultural expressions are transmissible and
always evolving.
• Much of what we recognise today as Caribbean
culture is the legacy of our history of colonialism,
slavery and migration.
3. Definitions of Culture
• The most important characteristic of culture is
that it is learned
• It is NOT innately, biologically or
physiologically acquired.
• As society evolves, so does culture,
• Therefore culture is not static.
4. Definition 1
• Sociologists Michael Haralambos and Martin
Holborn define culture as the whole way of life
found in a particular society.
• They contend that culture is learned through
socialization and is shared by members of a
society.
• There are different components to culture,
including norms and values.
– Norms are specific guides to action which define
acceptable and appropriate behaviour in particular
situations.
– Values are more general guidelines and are defined as
a belief that something is good and desirable.
5. Definition 2
• John J. Macionis and Ken Plummer note that
culture is the values, beliefs, behaviour and
material objects that constitute a people’s way of
life.
• Culture is composed of non-material and
material culture.
– Non-material culture is the intangible world of ideas
created by members of a society.
– Material culture constitutes the tangible things
created by members of a society.
6. • Caribbean culture can be viewed as a body of
learned behaviours common to the Caribbean
region, passed on from one generation to
another.
• Caribbean culture possesses it own norms,
mores, symbols, values, and customs.
• Oftentimes, culture, by itself is regionally
specific.
7. Festivals
Carnival
• Carnival comes from the Latin for ‘Farewell to
meat’.
• Carnival varies from place to place as to
season, size and lavishness, but it is essentially
a street celebration in honour of particular
holidays.
8. • Carnival is widely celebrated in the Caribbean,
including, Antigua, Grenada, Dominica and St.
Lucia.
• The best known carnival celebration is the
Pre-Lenten one in Trinidad.
• The Trinidad carnival brings together different
faucets of Trinidad’s society.
• It is also a mixture of African, European and
Asian influences.
• According to Errol Hill:
The Trinidad carnival has been called the
‘outstanding folk festival of the Western World.’ It
has given birth to new music and song, to
language, and dance, to costumes and masks...
9. • Calypso is the most popular Carnival music
played and steel pans and street parades are also
featured.
• The Trinidad Carnival is famous for its calypso
tents and the annual climatic road march.
• Costumes are elaborate and vibrantly coloured.
• Many tourists attend the carnival annually and as
the attraction of carnival grew, so did its budget
which eventually featured lavish displays.
• As such, many complain that it is now so
commercialised that their culture might be slowly
eroding.
10. Historically, the Trinidad carnival was possessed
of two social streams, the upper classes with
their masked balls and the lower classes with
their street parades.
Pre- emancipation Carnival was a highly stratified
and segregated affair, with the planters and free
coloureds keeping to themselves.
Early Trinidad carnival, particularly that by the
upper class, featured masquerade balls, fetes
and house to house visiting.
The enslaved took advantage of the temporary
break to indulge in the street parades.
The enslaved had their own celebration called
Dame Lorraine masque, which partly featured
caricatures of the planters.
11. Most writers agree that the Carnival commenced
in Trinidad and Tobago in the late 18th
century.
According to Carlton Ottley (1974):
Carnival had come to Trinidad sometime in the 1780’s
with the arrival of the flood of French immigrants. It is
true that the Spaniards did celebrate with disguise
balls before that, but, the beginning of the festival such
as known today, may be said to be a product of those
early French men and women who sought refuge here
towards the close of the [18th
] century.
These French immigrants came to Trinidad to
escape the unrest in Grenada and the unsettled
state of affairs in Martinique, Guadeloupe and
San Domingue.
12. • There are those who argue that Carnival has
religious significance that has much to do with
French Catholicism and is thus tied to Easter-
Lenten observances.
• However, Corey Gilkes (2003) contends that the
Trinidad Carnival emerged from West African
festivals.
• On emancipation day August 1, 1838, the
enslaved people celebrated with their festival of
Camboulay which features torchlight
processions, loud music, drumming,
reinterpretations of African masking and
representations of their treatment under slavery.
13. Maureen Warner-Lewis points out that the word
Camboulay is derived from the Congo kambule meaning
procession.
In a few years, Camboulay was made to coincide with the
pre-Lenten Carnival.
African Trinidadians appropriated the street Carnival
adding to it traditional masquerades such as the moko
jumbie, derived from the African memory.
Reinterpretations of European characters were also
featured.
The African presence caused whites to street carnival.
Anti-Carnival legislation came to bear on the
celebrations. However, they were vociferously protested.
The Camboulay element of Carnival was suppressed but
returned with the celebration of J’Ouvert which featured
characters drawn from folklore.
14. Carnival was organised into competitions in the
early 1920s.
The upper class then returned to participate in
Carnival.
Race and class differences were perpetuated in
the centres where the competitions were held,
the Queen’s Park Savannah and Marine Square.
Eric Williams’ added legitimacy to the celebration
in the 1950s as he saw it as being a celebration of
all things Creole.
Carnival changed, possessing larger and more
sophisticated bands. Costumes became
expensive and intricate, forcing many of the
poorer persons away from the celebration.
In reaction, they embraced J’Ouvert which was
converted to a celebration of mud.
15. • The Trinidad Carnival changed meaning
overtime.
• It was originally a celebration of nostalgia for
the French Creole immigrants.
• It became a celebration of emancipation for
the freed Africans.
• It finally became a secular ceremony of the
celebration of life and sexuality.
• However, according to L. Regis,
Carnival has never integrated its participants as
fully as is believed and race-ethnicity-class
divisions are still in evidence in the organisations
of the masquerade bands...
16. Hosay/Hussay: Moharram in India
• During the 14th and 15th centuries an influx of
Iranian Shiite Muslims into India introduced the
observance of Moharram into the sub-continent.
• It retained Persian characteristics of displaying
personal mourning in public by marching in
processions, recalling the names of Hasan and
Hosain to the music of drums, and self-flagellation.
• The Shias start building the tazias (taziya, tadjah)
on the first day of Moharram after holding special
consecration prayers.
17. • In India, both Sunni and Shiite Muslims
participated in Moharram. By the end of the
18th century the dominant Hindu culture also
began to penetrate Moharram.
• This led to the introduction of the float tazia –
an artistically designed replica of imaginary
tombs of Hasan and Hosain, as an integral part
of Moharram processions on the final day of
mourning.
• The tazia is built over nine days. The men
participate in the building while a mixed
congregation retells the story of the battle
and sings mercia (mourning songs).
18. • Incense (loban) is burnt and fanned towards
the “graves” inside the tazia.
• In the mornings, small bands of Shia mourners
with flags parade in the streets playing nagaras
(double ended drums hung from the neck and
shoulders) and tassas (small top-ended drums
tied to the waist).
• On the evening of the ninth day, the tazias are
brought out of the shed where they are built
and carried to a few homes in the
neighbourhood where the faithful provide all-
night vigil by drumming, reading of scriptures,
singing or mercia and burning of loban.
19. • The 10th day is the climax: there is a
procession with the tazias at the back, led by
tassa drummers, sword and stick fighters.
• There is drumming and music and cries of “Hai
Hosain” and self-flagellation.
• Late in the afternoon, the processions reach
river banks, sea coasts or burial grounds where
the whole tazia or the paper covering are
thrown away or buried.
20. Hosay/Hussay in the Caribbean
• Observance of Moharram in the Caribbean was
initiated by the early indentured workers as they tried
to establish homes away from home.
• Hosay was celebrated in Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica,
Belize, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Guadeloupe.
• Until the 1940s, Hosay invoked general religious
sentiments and devotion among the participants of
either religion who would avoid alcohol, sex and other
pleasures during the 10 days.
• In the nineteenth century, Moharram was observed
strictly according to the Islamic calendar and Indian
rituals and traditions.
21. • There was the belief is that the martyred brothers
reappear and grant wishes.
• The building of the Hosay, special acts of sacrifice
during the festival period, and contributions of
food or money are considered acts of merit and
will bring good fortune to the worshipper.
Construction of the tazia started on the first day of
Moharram after a simple religious ceremony at
the craftman’s shed which was regarded as a holy
shrine for the next 8 days.
• There were evening assemblies dominated by
Muslim men and women who would sing until
early morning. On the ninth night, tazias were
assembled and it was displayed to the public
amidst drumming and singing of mercias.
22. • The activities of the tenth day were heralded with
the playing of music on nagaras (also called
dholaks – which are beaten with curved sticks
called dankas) and tassas.
• From this point, the tazias moved in an organized
procession along the pre-determined route to a
“fair-ground” at a river bank or sea shore.
• The procession is led by alamdars (mourners with
flags) and drummers, followed by the sword and
stick (gutka) fighters, the main body of mourners
signing “Hai Hosain” and then the tazia.
• At dusk, the tazias were sunk one by one in the
river or sea amidst sounds of the tassa, nagara
and shouts of Hai Hasan, Hai Hosain.
•
23. • Despite its significance, Olive Senior argues
that Hosay has lost most of its religious
significance as, in countries such as Jamaica,
“Hosay features the active participation of
many different religious and ethnic groups
other than Muslims, especially non-Indian
Creoles”. Most celebrants use the opportunity
to recall their ancestors who came to the
Caribbean rather than a religious affirmation
of Islam.
24. The Creolisation of Moharram
Explored
The creolisation of Moharram occurred because:
Many Indians projected their ethnic identity on other
members of Caribbean society
The Muslim community in the Caribbean was initially
small.
Inter-marriages among Indian Muslims and Hindus.
The formation of close bonds between Indians and Afro-
Caribbean people.
Working together on sugar and banana plantations, Afro-
Caribbean and Indian people came to better understand
each other
Indians in time recognised that they had more in
common than with Afro-Caribbean people
25. Thus, the creolised Moharram involves:
Nomenclature or a name change from Moharram to
Hosay
Though Trinidad still adheres to the Muslim calendar,
secularisation has affected the date of the observance
in Jamaica.
Entire communities became involved in Moharram.
The rituals became creolised.
The significance has shifted from a religious event to a
festive one.
The style of drumming has changed.
Dancing has been altered.
Drinking now features prominently.
Many have argued that creolisation means
commercialisation.
26. Jonkonnu
• It arguably at the beginning of the eighteenth century,
Jonkunnu (John Canoe, Jon Canoe and John Canou).
• Jonkunnu celebrations can be traced to the Christmas
holidays when the enslaved were technically given ‘free’
time to celebrate. Oftentimes, this celebration featured
music – drumming, dance and costume/masks as well as
some satirical mimicry.
• Though Jamaica had a strong culture of Jonkunnu, today,
it is in Nassau, Bahamas that it is most celebrated where
it is popularly called Junkanoo. The festival also occurs in
Belize (called Jankunu) and North Carolina (John Canoe).
It is celebrated also in Guyana, Bermuda and St. Kitts-
Nevis.
27. • In general, the celebration occurs anywhere
between Christmas day and New Year’s Day. In
Belize, it is performed on Christmas and Boxing Day
while in the Bahamas it is celebrated between
December 26th
and January 1.
• According to Richard Burton, Jonkunnu is first
mentioned in passing by in 1707 by Hans Sloane
and later by name by Edward Long in his History of
Jamaica in 1774. In Jamaica, Jonkunnu had three
clearly define phases:
– The early period of introduction and adaptation
– The addition of the set girls in the 1770s
– Post emancipation period with high British influence
28. • According to Burton, Jonkunnu’s origins are
certainly African and until the latter eighteenth
century, it developed unimpeded by European
culture.
• Cassidy and Le Page contend that the term is a
combination of two Ewe words, dzono for sorcery
and kúnu for something deadly.
• Burton cedes as he writes:
– “An African cultural form rapidly indigenised in Jamaica
and only belatedly subject to surface creolisation,
Jonkonnu functioned as the core of the oppositional
culture of Jamaican slaves, at first in isolation then
increasingly as part of a much wider cultural
phenomenon: the extraordinary “Negro Carnival” that
was Christmas in Jamaica during the last thirty or forty
years of slavery.”
29. • There are also arguments that Jonkunnu, with its
completely African dance, possessing elements of
creolisation, incorporated the European tradition
of masquerade balls.
• Of note in Jamaica were the ‘set girls’ characteristic
of the European influence on the festival.
• Creolisation is a feature of the festival since it
twinned African elements such as dance with
European ones such as the celebration of
Christmas, masquerades, dancing and mumming.
African slaves retained their music, dance and
masquerade traditions.
30. • Most Jonkunnu performers are male. Participants
frequently take to the streets and with music,
mime and dance.
• In Jamaican Jonkunnu the main characters include
Pitchy-patchy, Actor Boy, Cow Head, Horse Head
and Devil.
• Other participants include Policeman, Belly-
woman and Wild Indian. Occasionally, a Bride and
House Head also feature.
• In Jamaica, participants would be attired in head
dresses, masks, pitchforks, batons, fans and other
items depending on the character. Shiny material
such as mirrors was often added to give costumes
more oomph!
31. • Jonkunnu would be incomplete without the
dance of each character.
• Musical bands feature rattles and the gumbay
drum – an African instrument and the fife a
European instrument. This demonstrates the
Creole nature of the celebration – it as neither
African nor European but a synthesis of both.
32. Music
Caribbean music is global in its appeal.
It is often a fusion of several cultural elements
with a heavily African base.
According to one author, Caribbean music has its
roots in the culture of the indigenous people and
later, a combination of African, European and
Asian peoples.
Even some of the Asian music imported by
indentured Indians and Javanese into the
southern Caribbean shows signs of blending or
Creolisation e.g. chutney in Trinidad.
33. • The strength of Caribbean music lies in the
ability of the performer to influence the
listening audience.
• Many theorists have argued that music affects
the construction of society through its
influence on its listeners.
• Like many musical genres around the world,
Caribbean music tackles a wide array of
subjects, including love, death, tragedy,
religion, belief and conflict.
34. Music in general plays the following roles,
including:
1.Stress reliever
2.Accompaniment to exercise
3.Spiritual empowerment
4.Entertainment
5.Celebration
6.Meditation
35. Calypso
• Calypso can be described as oral tradition,
possessing keen observation, inspired social
commentary and biting satire.
• Concentrated in Trinidad and Tobago and the
Windward islands, calypso in the 1990s has
transcended insularity and is immensely
popular in the entire region and among the
Caribbean Diaspora in North America and the
UK.
36. Calypso music can be traced to the arrival of
the enslaved West Africans who used their
own kind of music and songs as a form of
communication and self-expression.
Many early calypsos were sung in French-
Creole patois by a singer called a griot.
The griot, who later became the chantuelle,
has in more recent times been called
calypsonian.
Calypso has West African roots and it is
believed that the term originates from the
Hausa word kaiso which means bravo or well
done.
37. Others believe that the term derives from the
Carib cariso – the war song of the Caribs.
During the period of enslavement, calypsos
were sung to jeer the enslavers.
During freedom, the calypsonian was seen as
someone who acted as an advocate of the
poor and disfranchised as he would ridicule
and reprimand the authority for their
inadequacies in social policies.
As such, those in power disapproved of the
activities of calypsonians.
38. The Mighty Gabby (born Anthony Carter) is
one of Barbados’ most prolific
singer/performer.
One of Grenada’s and the Caribbean’s most
popular calysonian is the Mighty Sparrow.
Sparrow, nee Slinger Francisco was born in
Grenada on July 9, 1935.
Other widely acclaimed performers include
Lord Kitchener, Viper, Red Plastic Bag, Lord
Beginner and Lord Invader.
39. Soca
• Soca originated in Trinidad and Tobago
• It evolved from Calypso and had Chutney
influences
• Lord Shorty was a pioneer of Soca
40. Chutney
• Chutney emerging in Trinidad and Tobago, is a
kind of calypso sung to Indian traditional
musical accompaniment and partly in Hindi.
• It is an up-tempo, rhythmic song,
accompanied by the dholak, the harmonium
and the dhantal. It derived from traditional
Indian songs.
41. Reggae
• While it is not clear where the term reggae
originated, the rhythms of the genre emerged
from ska in the 1950s and later rock steady in the
1960s.
• Reggae is recognised as different from its
predecessors because of its spiritual emphasis.
• The lyrics of reggae typically deal with poverty,
love, politics and Rastafari.
• There are different forms of reggae including
roots reggae typified by Bob Marley, lover’s rock,
dub and dancehall.
42. • Ska: Ska originated in Jamaica in the 1950s. It built on the
base of mento and combined calypso, jazz and rhythm and
blues elements. An example is: Don Drummond, Love in the
Afternoon.
• Rocksteady: Rocksteady became popular in Jamaica from
about 1966. Rocksteady differs from ska musically as the
tempo is slower and more relaxed. The Paragons were
influential.
• Dub reggae: A form of remixing in which an instrumental
version of a song was manipulated by adding special
electronic effects – was pioneered by Osbourne Ruddock,
better known as King Tubby. Dubs, which possess an echo
and reverberation effect, gave an eerie psychedelic feel to
the music as the DJ would then toast (talk or sing) over the
instrumental track. Daddy U-Roy’s Wake the Town and Tell
the People ushered in the era of dub reggae.
43. • Reggae: Reggae developed in the late 1960s on the
heels of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is normally
slower than ska but faster than rocksteady.
• Roots Reggae: Roots Reggae is a spiritual form of
reggae. Recurrent lyrical themes include poverty
and resistance to racial and government
oppression. Some of the major artistes were Bob
Marley and the Wailers, Peter Tosh, the
Abyssinians and Burning Spear.
• Lover’s Rock: Lovers Rock was a counterpoint to
the mainly spiritual Roots Reggae. The themes
were about love and relationships. Some of the
earlier proponents were Ken Boothe, Gregory
Isaacs, and Dennis ‘Emmanuel’ Brown.
44. • Dancehall reggae is currently popular and
came on the scene in the 1980s.
• Popular artistes include the DJs Tiger,
Yellowman and Lt. Stitche. It became even
more popular in the 1990s with the
emergence of Shabba Ranks, Super Cat,
Bounty Killa, Beenie Man and Shaggy.
• While dancehall is innovative and cutting
edge, it has also allegedly been characterised
by sexually explicit lyrics and violence.
• However, artistes such as Tony Rebel, Sizzla
and Buju Banton have brought conscious lyrics
to dancehall.
45. Comparing Musical Genre
Several similarities have emerged, though Louis
Regis limits the comparison to Reggae and
Calypso.
Creole performance art forms with African
bases
Originating in lower income communities,
they have achieved international acclaim
Music acts as the voice of the community, the
disfranchised
Caribbean music portrays the life of the
Caribbean people, and the varying range of
experiences.
46. Zouk
• Zouk music emerged in the French Antilles in
the 1980s.
• The word zouk is Creole and originated in
Martinique, where it was the common
expression for party.
• Zouk’s dance rhythms are based on traditional
Antillean roots.
• Zouk owes much of its rhythm to the popular
‘biguine’ music played by dance orchestras in
the French Antilles in the early twentieth
century.
47. • Performed at fairs, carnivals, and in local discos,
zouk merges West African-influenced indigenous
drums and percussive instruments with
electronic instrumentation.
• Indigenous instruments such as the tambour
(large drum and lead instrument), chacha (tin can
filled with stones), and t-bois (thin bamboo
sticks) are paired with guitars, horns,
synthesizers, and a drum set.
• Topped off with a large vocal chorus, the
communal joy of zouk music celebrates life amid
the strains of poverty in Martinique.
• Zouk’s popularity is limited to the French
speaking territories in Europe, the Caribbean and
Africa.
48. • Zouk has been made famous by the Caribbean
performing group Kassav.
• Incidentally, Zouk has been adopted by Angola
and the Cape Verde Islands under the name
Kisomba/Kizomba.
• The only difference between the genres is the
language.
• Zouk is performed in French (or French
creole), while kisomba is performed in
Portuguese (or Portuguese creole).
49. Conclusion
• Three facets of the Caribbean’s culture
expression has been explored, festivals, music
and sports.
• What is clear is how similar the cultural
expression is and how representative it is of
the different migrants that entered the
region.
• As culture is evolving, we can only wait
excitedly as to what our future will bring.
