Myths and Maxims
By Josanne Leid
()
About this ebook
Myths and Maxims documents some of the beliefs and lore of Trinidad and Tobago and by extension the rest of the Caribbean. It is packed with elders' advice on how to survive in today’s world and the phrases that reflect these teachings.
Josanne Leid
I was born and raised on the bigger of the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago and have always been fascinated with the history and culture of my people. Add this to my love of sharing information- mostly unsolicited- and now you understand how natural it was for me to pitch my tent behind the Non-Fiction Author wagon.
Related to Myths and Maxims
Related ebooks
Tambú: Curaçao's African-Caribbean Ritual and the Politics of Memory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Jamaica Old-Time Sayings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerforming Afro-Cuba: Image, Voice, Spectacle in the Making of Race and History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Afro-Latin Diaspora: Awakening Ancestral Memory, Avoiding Cultural Amnesia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dancing Bahia: Essays on Afro-Brazilian Dance, Education, Memory, and Race Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoulStirrers: Black Art and the Neo-Ancestral Impulse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Caribbean Kin: Race and Nation in the Neoliberal Antilles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Souls of Black Folk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Congolese Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRediasporization: African-Guyanese Kweh-Kweh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCornbread, Fish and Collard Greens:: Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living with Hiv/Aids Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackness in the White Nation: A History of Afro-Uruguay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlacks of the Rosary: Memory and History in Minas Gerais, Brazil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe African World in Dialogue: An Appeal to Action! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMambo Montage: The Latinization of New York City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Experiential Caribbean: Creating Knowledge and Healing in the Early Modern Atlantic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCaribbean Folk Tales: Stories from the Islands and from the Windrush Generation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cooking of History: How Not to Study Afro-Cuban Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalkin' Over Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Early Puerto Rican Cinema and Nation Building: National Sentiments, Transnational Realities, 1897-1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Writing, Culture, and the State in Latin America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWater Graves: The Art of the Unritual in the Greater Caribbean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsResisting Paradise: Tourism, Diaspora, and Sexuality in Caribbean Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Jumbies' Playing Ground: Old World Influences on Afro-Creole Masquerades in the Eastern Caribbean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Renaissance: New Forms, Old Images in Yoruba Art Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmong the Garifuna: Family Tales and Ethnography from the Caribbean Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gods Had Gone to Sleep Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIsles of Noise: Sonic Media in the Caribbean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTigers of a Different Stripe: Performing Gender in Dominican Music Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social Science For You
A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Men Explain Things to Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Close Encounters with Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Myths and Maxims
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Myths and Maxims - Josanne Leid
Introduction
The Caribbean like the rest of the ‘new’ world founded the majority of its population on immigration, indentured labour and slavery. The French, Spanish, Portuguese, British and Dutch took turns colonising at least one island and each insertion of Europeans left an indelible mark on the island’s physical and cultural scene. The rulers changed hands often in some cases but their presence is still evident in the agriculture, architecture, education, religion and language of the lands they occupied. When the colonists left, some of the labourers they imported remained, and they as well added to the landscape of the island.
The Chinese, East Indians, and others were shipped in to fill the labour gap when the slave trade was abolished. Like the Europeans, they painted their new homes with their unique way of life, however, the culture that dominates the Caribbean today belongs to the dominant people in colony days- the ex-slaves.
Even as the Europeans ruled, slaves of West African tribal heritage constituted the majority of the population of the Caribbean. A people who were robbed of their freedom, they were consistently tortured until they conformed to their owner’s way of life. The slaves adapted to their dependants outwardly in tongue and action but those who could, continued to clandestinely practise what they remembered and passed that knowledge down throughout their imprisonment, even when they were transferred to another owner or land.
In 1783, the Cédula de Población authorised French Caribbean residents of Roman Catholic Faith who would swear loyalty to the Spanish Crown, a sizeable land grant depending on different conditions, one of which is the amount of slaves they brought with them. The purpose was to increase inhabitants in the Spanish colony of Trinidad; the result was a heavy infusion of French Creole culture on the tiny island. Even after slavery was abolished the French influence colored the speech and beliefs of the assimilated people and their children. They did not forget their living hell however, and the evil spirits or jumbies they warn us about, reflect this. One in particular, Le Diable (Devil) is described as a well dressed white man who makes deals with the living then takes their soul.
Since the abolition of slavery, migration to the Caribbean has increased from countries around the world, and even between Caribbean Islands. Each new resident brings with them the rituals of their birth home thus augmenting the stock of customs in that island. Add this to the higher percentage of foreign content to local content on information mediums like local television, the internet and literature and it can become difficult over time to remember which practice originated in Caribbean history and which belongs to the heritage of another country.
This book began as a reference of the current culture of the people of the twin isles of Trinidad and Tobago. The information is pre-dominantly from the prevailing heritage- French Creole- but there are a few appearances of the equally dominant influence on the island-East Indian. While doing the research, the similarity in beliefs between Trinidad and Tobago and its’ neighbouring islands was glaringly obvious. Naturally the rest of the Caribbean was appendaged as the shared history has ensured that the superstitions, spirits and sayings showcased are as much theirs as it is of Trinidad and Tobago.
Now, without further ado, I