Barbados LAND OF THE FLYING FISH

Orlando Leach Jr.

BARBADOS HAS ANOTHER NAME IT’S KNOWN BY?

 The island is known predominantly as the “Land of the Flying Fish”. Its warm waters, which are “rich in miniscule plant and animal organisms”, provide an excellent food source for the flying fish (Callaghan, 2013). This has in turn provided Barbadians with a high-protein dietary staple for centuries. Also this is an example of environmental determinism as Flying Fish is abundant and rich in nutrients and protein, therefore limiting their need to hunt and gather food as the water is bountiful in food resources.

Flying Fish is additionally a national dish amongst Bajans.

The History of Barbados

Barbados was originally a colony under British rule in the early seventeenth century. Landing in 1625, the British transformed Barbados through implementing plantation systems and slavery, which led to “the first major monocropping sugar producer in the emerging British Empire” (Handwerker). As a result of this colonization, Barbados’s fortunes were tied to sugar and to England for the next three hundred and ten years. Barbados remained a British colony until achieving independence from Britain on November 30th 1966. That first independence ceremony was accompanied by the raising of the Barbados national flag, and playing of the national anthem for the first time.

Life after the British rule

Although oppressed under British rule, there are seen long lasting influences of Britain on their lifestyles. Through cultural diffusion there is seen politeness and civility in Bajans, a legacy both of British influence, that has aided in the public order of the people’s security and communication.

Plantations were utilized to perpetuate economic prosperity, and evidently by the 1800s when West Indian sugar plantations disappeared elsewhere, Barbadian plantations remained productive. Barbadian culture emerged out of the plantation slavery economy as a distinctive synthesis of English and West African cultural traditions.

The British influence on Bajan culture can be seen as hierarchal diffusion as the British, being the superior authority, dictated the lifestyle of Bajans, which explains their taste in music, civility and decorum, and economic stability.

The country, being home to 268,000 people, and receiving a rating of 59 on its HDI, has a predominant West African population of 92.4% black people. According to wikipedia.org, the remaining population is broken down to 3.1% mixed descent, 2.7% white, 1.3% South Asian, 0.9% East African, and 0.1% Middle Eastern. Barbados has a GDP of $4.168 billion, which when broken down individually is $25,000 per capita (Barbados Economy 2014). Based on “The World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision” Barbados had a natural increase of 3.49 per 1000 people in 2010. According to Human Geography: People, Place, and Culture, Barbados has a population density of 662 per sq. mile and holds a physiologic population density of 1811 people per sq. mile. This is due to Barados having rich and fertile soil for plantation and vegetation growth.

Graph of GDP in Barbados

Education

The emphasis on education is big in Barbados especially with the Bajan government allocating money to school facilities to support students a the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. This has resulted in a literacy rate of an estimated 98% percent in Barbados, the highest in the world (Barbados.org). Such institutions as the University of Barbados and the University of the West Indies, located in Barbados are widely known around the Caribbean for their exceptional academic foundation.

Religion

Another aspect of Bajan life that is derivative of British rule is their religion. According to the 2010 census “75.6% of the population of Barbados is considered Christian, 2.6% has a non-Christian religion and 20.6% has no religion” (Wikipedia.org). Predominantly Anglicanism constitutes the largest religious group of 23.9% of the population, followed by Pentecostals (19.5%), Seventh-Day Adventist (5.9%), and smaller religious groups. Each is represented in the Church in the Province of the West Indies.

Crop Over Festival

The mixed origins of the history of Crop Over reveal it to be a Bajan Folk Festival which evolved out of the harvest festivals of two cultures, England and West Africa (accessbarbados.com). The revealing clothing and vibrant colors worn by the performers and people represent their culture and customs from their interactions with their environment.

The Visual Arts Festival holds exhibitions that play an important part in the Photography and Arts & Craft community, by annually exhibiting the skills of talented bajans of all ages. The steel pans present in the image represent material culture as Bajans use the instrument to express their culture during the parade. Also the Crop Over Festival is seen as the folk culture of Barbados as it is culturally unique to Bajans and is only celebrated in Barbados during the 3 month summer period.

Crop Over: Visual Arts Festival

The annual “Read In” features local and international artistes during the the Visual Arts Festival.

How is music instrumental in Bajan lifestyle?

The Barbadian folk tradition is home to a great variety of musical instruments, imported from Africa, Great Britain and other Caribbean islands. According to bajanfuhlife.com, the most central instrument group in Barbadian culture is the percussion instruments. These include numerous drums such as the pump and the tum tum, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, the side snare drum and a double-headed bass drum of tuk bands.

Food in Bajan culture

Cou Cou and Flying Fish Fish Cakes Peas and Rice

Bajan meals emphasize fish, chicken, pork, and other foods common in West Africa, such as rice, okra, and Scotch bonnet peppers. According to everyculture.com “meal components such as cornmeal, salt fish, and salt beef were supplied to the original plantation labor forces.” Being accustomed to the food produced and shared amongst them from previous years due to British colonialism, Bajans weaved such dishes into their culture.

Other popular culture in Barbados

This year’s AnimeKon Expo took place in Barbados and is internationally known for being a home for artists and fans of all genres – anime lovers, comic book artists, graphic designers, cosplayers, gamers, poets, film & movie buffs, writers, technophiles, martial artists and actors, etc. This is an example of pop culture as anime/cartoon cosplay is growing aspect of western society that is being expressed in Bajan culture.

Other examples of the 2014 AnimeKon Expo which took place August 23rd-24th.

Folk Culture

Folklore in Barbados traces back to its African roots. From this ancestry, many folk beliefs involved methods for keeping ghosts, or duppies, from returning to haunt living people. Some measures taken include sprinkling rum on the ground, walking into the house backward, and hanging herbs from the windows and doorways. Another figure from Barbadian folklore is the heartman, who kills children and offers their hearts to the devil. The baccoo is a tiny man who lives in a bottle and can decide a person's destiny. Although well-known around the Carribean, these tales and beliefs all contribute to the overall influence of West Africa on Bajan tradition and lifestyle.

Tourist Attractions

Crane Beach, a well-known tourist destination that showcases its beautiful pink coral sand and roaring waters accompanied by its luxury resort, Crane Beach Hotel. Such a resort could also be a pull factor for those people seeking vacation and relaxation in a peaceful location.

Bathsheba Beach

 At Bathsheba Beach, also known as the Soup Bowl, large rock formations, which are remnants from an ancient coral reef carved by the surf, stand like gigantic mushrooms in the sea. This beach is great for photographs and surfing, but strong undercurrents can make swimming here dangerous.

Gun Hill Signal Station

Built in 1818 and used to signal the approach of enemy ships as well as the safe arrival of cargo ships, the Gun Hill Signal Station offers breathtaking vistas across the entire island.

Lets Play a Game!!!

We’re going to play “Do You Know the Bajan Within You?” Please follow instructions and repeat after me.

Whenever “th” is pronounced, in Bajan dialect only the “t” is pronounced.

Say: Think, three, thank you.

Also to shorten pronunciations, “th” is also articulated as “d” instead.

Say: This, that

One cultural saying from Barbados is Coconut don' grow upon pumpkin vine.  This means children turn out like their parents. Although some remnants that still practice Bajan dialect still exist, the natural Bajan speakers have declined as a result of Americanization, globalization, and cultural diffusion.

Bibliography

★ About Barbados ★. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.barbados.org/history1.htm#.VH4639wpwfg

AnimeKon Expo. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://animekonexpo.tumblr.com/

Bajan Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.accessbarbados.com/bajan.php

Barbados - Population - Rate of natural increase. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://knoema.com/atlas/Barbados/topics/Demographics/Population/Rate-of-natural-increase

Barbados Crop Over Festival History | FunBarbados.com. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.funbarbados.com/crop_over/history.cfm

Barbados Economy 2014, CIA World Factbook. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/barbados/barbados_economy.html

Blij, H., & Murphy, A. (2007). Human geography: People, place, and culture. (10th ed., pp. A-12,A-13). New York: J. Wiley.

British rule. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52655/Barbados/54604/British-rule

Countries and Their Cultures. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.everyculture.com/

Cre8ivmind. (2009, September 22) Barbados Music and Images [Video File]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zn2MQDpYEg

Dialect of Barbados at Totally Barbados. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.totallybarbados.com/barbados/About_Barbados/Local_Information/Culture/675.htm