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Showing posts from February, 2023

Creolization in the French-Speaking Caribbean

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Hey guys! Welcome back to another episode of "My Music Blog" with Ches, your favorite blogger. Today we will be talking about more Creolization in the Caribbean but we're switching it up today and looking at the French-speaking Caribbean countries.  In previous posts we established that creolization is the mixing of cultures whether its music, food, religion, dances, or festivals, you name it.  And in the French-speaking Caribbean, Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe have the perfect examples. According to 'Tour de Force: A Musical Journey of the Caribbean', Haiti has a syncretic religion called vodou, a blend of African spiritual traditions brought by slaves and Christian beliefs enforced by Roman Catholic missionaries. This religion is one of Haiti's two official religions and is widely practiced. According to Britannica, vodou means "spirit" or "deity" and its primary goal is to  offer prayers and perform various devotional rites  directed

Creolization in the English-Speaking Caribbean

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Hey guys! Welcome back to another episode of "My Music Blog" with Ches, your absolute favorite blogger. Today we will be talking about some more Creolization in the Caribbean but in the English-speaking Caribbean. Did you know that many of the dances we do, musical styles we use, the food we eat and even the languages we speak are products of Creolization?  Take Jamaica for example, they speak patois. Patois is an English based creole language influenced by West African culture.  This portion of the blog we will only look at Jamaica and St. Lucia, two of the many English-speaking Caribbean countries.  Since I already started with Jamaica, let's continue... Previously I mentioned the language Jamaicans speak, but did you know that "ackee and saltfish", the national dish of Jamaica is also a product of creolization? Yes, I know, me either, I thought that was a full Jamaican thing. But according to Sainsbury (n.d.) ackee is actually native to Ghana and the saltfish