African Cultural Forms in the Caribbean

African Cultural Forms in the Caribbean up to 1838
Religion
Though the planters tried to stifle the indigenous religion, much cultural
retention occurred. The slaves held on to their beliefs and practices as much
as and where possible. Here are some of them:

– Life after death.
– The spirit world: duppies or ghosts.
– The forces of good and evil and the constant struggle between the two.
– That the dead is still a part of the community.
– Two types of magic. Obeah- used to inflict hurt or harm and Myalism- used
to promote life, love,
health, and success. Both involved the use of herbs, oils, potions, etc.
– A lot of music and dance in their expressions of worship.
– Ancestral spirits and that one can actually make contact with them and that
they are constantly
watching over us.
– Chanting of songs.
– Gods of nature- rain, thunder, lightning and fertility.
– Highest respect for Mother earth.
Food
The slaves had to prepare their own meals. They did it the way they were
taught back home in Africa. Also, the fact that they were allowed to grow
their own provisions meant that they were able to choose what to grow example,
yam, coco, dasheen, etc. They continued their culinary skills.
Trinidadian slaves had the luxury of beans and palm oils as they would have
had in Africa.
Dress
They were given either two suits of clothing per year or the equivalent yards
of osnaburg. This is a type of rough khaki also called guinea blue or Dutch
stripes. The women would wrap their themselves with the cloth the way they
would have in Africa to form dress or skirts. And of course, they did not
forget their ‘’tie head’’.
Language
The slaves came from different areas and ethnic groups in West Africa and
so spoke different languages. This forced them to create a new tongue we
now know as patois. But several African words survived.
Music and Dance
They had all sorts of songs, work or digging songs as we have learnt, love
songs, songs of sorrow, songs of joy and so on. In fact, it seems as if they
had a song for every occasion just as they had a proverb to fit every
situation. Their music had a lot of rhythm and beat. It involved the use of
instruments such as: Tambourines, Banjos, Flutes, Rattles, and Xylophones.
Their dance had a lot of movement and passion, involving gyration of the hip
and pelvic areas and the shaking of the rear. This was seen as vulgar by
many of the whites, though secretly they were aroused by it, no wonder they
understood its sexual importance and described it as debauchery. Types of
dance included: Dinkie, Minnie, Kumina, and Brukins.
Medicine
Traditional African Medicine is a holistic discipline involving extensive use of
indigenous herbalism combined with aspects of African spirituality. The
Africans fiercely resisted the medicinal practices of the Europeans and
preferred to use their indigenous methods of healing. The Africans used a lot
of herbs and plants to treat ailments. They also believed that not only the
physical body should be free from illness but the spirit as well. African
healers not only used plants and herbs to cure ailments but also charms,
incantations, and the casting as spells. The individual should be both
physically and spiritually sound.
Reasons it was difficult for slaves to retain their Culture
1. The opposition which they faced from the planters who instituted laws
to suppress aspects of the culture, like drumming and obeah.
2. Planters discouraged the slaves from practising their dances, which
some mistakenly described as devil worship.
3. Slaves were not encouraged to practise their tribal religions but,
instead, were sometimes baptized into the Euro-Christian churches so
as to try to destroy their link with their native religion, since they
worked for most of the daylight hours.
4. During the ‘’seasoning’’ period, definite attempts were made to
‘’deculturize’’ the slaves as they were taught the language of the
master and forbidden to use their own tribal languages.
5. The planters tried to ensure that their slaves were from different ethnic
groups so that they would not unite around common customs.
6. Marriages and families were never encouraged in the British colonies.
7. In some cases, planters deliberately separated family members so as
to deprive the male of any other object of his loyalty other than the
planter himself.
8. Slaves were robbed of the African names that would allow them to
identify with their African origin, and given European names.
9. The slaves’ fear of the severe punishment that could result from
disobeying anti-African cultural laws and regulations.
10. Their need for survival, which was guaranteed only by loyalty to,
and cooperation with, the whites, meant that some of them were
extremely cautious about continued participation in traditional cultural
activities which planters frowned upon.