Culture of Grenada
Encyclopedia
Grenada
's French
colonists brought along their culture, as did the African slaves they brought across the Atlantic for agricultural work. The combination of these cultures is what you will find on this island. India
ns have also influenced the island culture in more recent years.
Importantly, many descendants of the first African Grenadians have maintained their own tribal knowledge. Many Grenadians are aware of the tribe from which their ancestors came, and their dance styles have been maintained throughout the island.
With the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807 by the British Parliament and the subsequent Abolishing of Slavery, indentured labor from India was procured at a very large scale.
The first ship, named the Maidstone, departed from Calcutta, India on January 27, 1857 and arrived a few months later on May 1. In all; 3,206 East Indians arrived to Grenada by 1885. Only 380 of them returned to India. The Indians made many contributions to Grenada. Indian Arrival Day was celebrated last year for the first time since the centenary celebration in 1957.
The Indians later on assimilated with the existing Africans, Europeans and other ethnicities intermarrying with each other. This very much influenced the culture and cuisine of Grenada.
, coconut milk
, turmeric
(misnamed saffron
), dumplings, callaloo
(taro
leaves) and a salted meat such as saltfish accra (codfish), smoked herring or salt beef. It's often cooked in a large pot commonly referred to by locals as a karhee, or curry pot. Popular street foods include aloo pie, doubles and dal puri served wrapped around a curry, commonly goat
, and bakes and fish cakes. Sweets include kurma, guava cheese, fudge or barfi, tamarind
balls, rum and raisin ice cream and currant rolls.
competition generating new soca
and calypso
material in August. The rest of the time soca, calypso, and reggae
are the mainstay on the minibuses competing for the loudest and, unfortunately, sometimes fastest bus service. Zouk
music has also been imported to Grenada from other French Caribbean
islands recently. Other local celebrations include the National Dance Festival, and Independence Day.
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
's French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
colonists brought along their culture, as did the African slaves they brought across the Atlantic for agricultural work. The combination of these cultures is what you will find on this island. India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
ns have also influenced the island culture in more recent years.
Importantly, many descendants of the first African Grenadians have maintained their own tribal knowledge. Many Grenadians are aware of the tribe from which their ancestors came, and their dance styles have been maintained throughout the island.
With the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807 by the British Parliament and the subsequent Abolishing of Slavery, indentured labor from India was procured at a very large scale.
The first ship, named the Maidstone, departed from Calcutta, India on January 27, 1857 and arrived a few months later on May 1. In all; 3,206 East Indians arrived to Grenada by 1885. Only 380 of them returned to India. The Indians made many contributions to Grenada. Indian Arrival Day was celebrated last year for the first time since the centenary celebration in 1957.
The Indians later on assimilated with the existing Africans, Europeans and other ethnicities intermarrying with each other. This very much influenced the culture and cuisine of Grenada.
Cuisine
Special dishes reflect the cultural diversity of Grenada. The national dish, Oil Down, is a combination of breadfruitBreadfruit
Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...
, coconut milk
Coconut milk
Coconut milk is the water that comes from the grated meat of a coconut. The colour and rich taste of the milk can be attributed to the high oil content. In many parts of the world, the term coconut milk is also used to refer to coconut water, the naturally occurring liquid found inside the hollow...
, turmeric
Turmeric
Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
(misnamed saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
), dumplings, callaloo
Callaloo
Callaloo is a popular Caribbean dish served in different variants in across the Caribbean. The main ingredient is a leaf vegetable, traditionally either amaranth , taro or Xanthosoma. Both are known by many names including callaloo, coco, tannia, bhaaji, or dasheen bush...
(taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...
leaves) and a salted meat such as saltfish accra (codfish), smoked herring or salt beef. It's often cooked in a large pot commonly referred to by locals as a karhee, or curry pot. Popular street foods include aloo pie, doubles and dal puri served wrapped around a curry, commonly goat
Curry Goat
Curry goat is a dish originating in India and has become very popular in Indo-Jamaican cuisine. This dish has spread throughout the English speaking Caribbean and also the Caribbean diaspora in North America and Great Britain....
, and bakes and fish cakes. Sweets include kurma, guava cheese, fudge or barfi, tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
balls, rum and raisin ice cream and currant rolls.
Music & Festivals
Music plays a huge part in Grenadian culture with the annual CarnivalCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
competition generating new soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
and calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
material in August. The rest of the time soca, calypso, and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
are the mainstay on the minibuses competing for the loudest and, unfortunately, sometimes fastest bus service. Zouk
Zouk
Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe & Martinique. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish dance, the...
music has also been imported to Grenada from other French Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
islands recently. Other local celebrations include the National Dance Festival, and Independence Day.
External links
- The Division of Culture, Grenada - Official site
- Grenadian Cuisine