This past Friday the school celebrated Jounen Kweyol (National Creole Day). I came to school earlier than usual to prepare for the celebration and help with the cooking. The teachers were preparing the original Creole dishes and it took an immense amount of time and effort. The students were asked to pay eight dollars for the meal. They had a choice between bouillon (a stew that contains beans, peas, lamb and dumplings) OR salt fish and figs. I chose to try the bouillon because I had already tasted the salt fish before. The bouillon did not look very appealing, but it tasted good. I think my favorite part of it was the dumplings. I saw the amount of time it took to make these dumplings and even helped make a few myself. It is pretty time consuming and your hands start to hurt after a while from kneading the dough so much. They really work the dough until it is completely smooth and round... forming the perfect dumpling. They also had breakfast foods, which included fish cakes, floats (sweet bread/donut thing), buns, a delicious bread (coconut, cinnamon, and sugar), lime juice and cocoa tea. I was fortunate enough to try everything and I really enjoyed it all. The cocoa tea was a little different…it reminded me of hot coco, but it had more of the herbal tea flavor. I thought it was nice that they offered breakfast to the students, but it was not included in the eight dollars they had to pay for lunch so they needed to pay extra if they wanted anything.
Everyone dresses in a certain type of plaid for the holiday, which was pretty neat to see. All the kids came to school in their little outfits and looked absolutely adorable. I spent a lot of the day talking with the kids and learning about the culture. When I first got there the students were firing off bamboo bursts. It is basically a large bamboo chute that is propped on the ground and faces up into the air. There is a small hole on the top of the bamboo where you can pour kerosene in. The grade six boys were shooting them off so they showed me how to do it. You then blow into the hole, light a stick on fire and place the fire into the hole and then blow air into it again. It makes a loud booming sound as the air/flame shoots out the end. It was fun to watch and cool to see all the students enjoying it so much.
The school was decorated very nice with lots of palms, plaid, and Creole signs hanging up all over. The teachers were speaking a lot of Creole, which was hard for me to understand, but they seemed to be somewhat conscientious of it and would translate for me here and there. It was nice because Amber and Brian (couple from the Peace Corps) were there too and they do not really know much Creole either so I did not feel like the only outcast. I have been learning a few words though which is nice, but it seems like a difficult language to catch on to.
There was a man that came to the school and showed the children how to weave baskets which was really neat. He let a couple of the students try to do it themselves too, but it was amazing how quickly he could get it done. I guess when that is your profession you learn to do the job fast and well. One of the classrooms was also basically turned into a dance floor where most of the children gathered to sing and dance to the souka music. Souka music is fast paced and has some vulgar language and words in it, but it is the typical dance/clubbing music that you will hear on the island (I would say it is a mix between rap and a fast reggae). Calipso is another type of music you may hear on the island, but it often contains a story or a message, usually a political one. I found that the students dance very provocatively in St. Lucia regardless of age. It does not matter if you are an adult or a child; they all learn the same dance moves. It looks a lot like what we would consider grinding
The students were each charged a dollar in order to enter the dance room. I thought this was logical seeing that they were trying to fundraise for the school, but I also thought it was unfair because many students did not have the money to enter the room. I think they should have at least told them ahead of time that there would be an activity like this that would require them to bring extra money. I ended up giving one young girl a dollar to enter because she was balling in the corner of an empty classroom. I felt so bad and I figured it was just one dollar. I know Amber ended up giving a dollar to another young boy who was angry and pouting on a chair. Amber and I both thought it was not really fair to charge the students a dollar, but it again was not our place to say anything. We were also a little concerned about the students that did not get to eat lunch because they did not have/bring the money. It did not seem right, but that is the way they do things. Some of the students just didn’t eat and others brought a bag lunch.
It ended up being a really fun day and I was glad I got to be a part of the celebration. Monchy is the community holding the celebration in the northern part of the island this year so that works out great for me. They already had people setting up for it all around the community. They even built little huts out of sticks and aluminum to represent the way people on the island used to live. They have started preparing food, drinks, music, and crafts particular to the natives that were on the island years ago in order for the community to celebrate and understand the culture they have evolved from.
The whole island had been preparing for the big celebration, which was supposed to take place this Sunday (October 31st). However, an unexpected hurricane came through the island and all celebrations were cancelled as a result. Apparently they will be post-poned for a later date, but people who live here claim that it will not be the same.
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