Posted
on August 30, 2015
At
this time of the year, the Caribbean island of St. Lucia has an
unusual sort of rivalry: flower society versus flower society!
There
are two rival societies, La Rose and Les Marguerite.
The first, as you can imagine, celebrates the rose; the latter honors
the daisy. Since the most commonly spoken language in St. Lucia is
St. Lucian Creole (a blending of mostly French words with African
grammar), I should tell you the name of the two societies in that
language: La Woz is “The Rose,” and La Magwit is
“The Marguerite Daisy.”
Each
group has weekly meetings, and each has a female singer called a
Chantwelle. And each Chantwelle has to compose Belairs, which are
tunes sung in Creole, that praise her own society and teasingly
“insults” the other!
Of
course the Chantwelles perform their Belairs at those weekly
meetings, in song and dance, and people play along with sax, violin,
banjo, or other instruments. Generally all the flower society members
join in singing the choruses. The society members play games at these
meetings.
La
Rose has its festival today – Les Marguerite hold one in October –
and there are religious services, parades, feasting, a royal court,
and of course a whole lot more singing and dancing.
A
rose of any other color...
It's
interesting to me that we have a very clear idea of what rose-colored
glasses, rosy cheeks, and the color “rose” all refer to: pink!
But
not all roses are pink!
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
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