Caribbean Culture

Music and Dancing

Caribbean culture and its music has influenced world music greatly. Caribbean music is a unique early blending of African and European elements. Perhaps the best known styles are Calypso and Reggae. Calypso originated on Trinidad in the 18th century and has long been associated with the carnival. Reggae was born in Jamaica, and derived from Calypso, rock and blues. It was made popular by Bob Marley.

Also associated with the Caribbean are Steel drums, which originated in Trinidad. Soca, Ska, and Zouk are other kinds of local music. Dancing is also popular, and the iinhabitants claim that many well- known dances originated here, including the Rumba and the Mamba. Limbo-ing under a bamboo pole also came from Trinidad and has it's origins iin African Rituals.

Rastafarianism

Rastafarianism is both a religious and political cult founded by Marcus Garvey in an attempt to provide hope for oppressed black people. Garvey is credited with saying ‘look to Africa, where a black king will be crowned, for deliverance is near'. The words were later taken to apply to Ras (that is, Prince) Tafari, who in 1930 was crowned emperor of Ethiopia under the name Haile Selassie. Even Haile Selassie's death in 1975 has not spelled an end to the movement, which seeks not only to distance itself from the doctrines and teachings of White people, but to help all Rastafarians leave behind poverty, misery and social and political oppression and follow their messiah to the Promised Land.

Cricket

Throughout the areas of the Caribbean that were once ruled by the British, Cricket, not baseball or soccer, is the dominant sport. The West Indies has long been one of the world's great cricket powers. Perhaps the greatest of West Indian Cricketers was Sir Garfield Sobers of Barbados, who became the only man ever to score 8,000 runs in test matches and take 200 wickets.

Voodoo and Zombies

Voodoo is an ecstatic religion that aims to establish contact between its believers and the spirit world. Little is ever written down, so its customs, practices, and beliefs are in a constant state of flux, and vary between villages, even ones that are close together. Its ceremonies usually involve beating drums, dancing, singing, and animal sacrifices and the spirits are exhorted to take possession of one of the worshippers who may then enter a trance. Voodoo followers believe in the existence of Zombies- the living dead, needless to say this particular aspect of Voodoo has attracted considerable attention from the popular press in the west.