Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
one is to sprinkle salt upon the cast-off skin, should you meet it (there’s the rub); or when you are expecting a visit from the ‘thing,’ or strew the floor around your bed with rice.
Caribbean Folklore
Also, the soucouyant myth may have been used during scientific underdeveloped times to explain the mysterious deaths. Especially the deaths of babies.
Caribbean Folklore
Upon Trinidad and Tobago’s independence from Britain in 1962, Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams was concerned “the transition to modernity, the rich, traditional folk customs might fall victim to a static uniformity”. As a result, he started several programs to ensure the establishment of “Trinibagonianness that would transcend the convenient, colonial separateness of groups, ideas, and ideologies.”
Therefore some of the programs Dr William championed included: The Prime Ministers Better Village Competition, Village Community Centers, Folk Concerts, the revival of Parang, and the dramatization of Caribbean folklore characters Soucouyants, Pierrot Grenade, Robbers and Douens.
Soucouyant & Salt
Various words and phrases from Trinidad & Tobago can be traced back to English, French and Spanish origins. Mother-giver is one such word that has its roots in the English language. In conclusion, growing up in Trinidad and Tobago is interesting because the slangs can change over time. I have lived in the United States for 20 years now. Every time I travel back to Trinidad and Tobago, I have to reacquaint myself with the words and phrases that have evolved.
In closing, several of the Caribbean folklore characters in Trinidad are women. The Soucouyant, Mama D’Leau, La Jahbless, and Mermaids. One has to wonder if:
the discussion of salt in relation to Caribbean women’s sexuality exemplifies the struggle of contradictory notions of gender that rests on or in the body metaphorical and literal of women at the level of orature.
Leave us a comment below of Trini phrases you have heard. Like Whe-Whe or fry bake.
Sources:
- Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago by Lise Winer & Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage by Richard Allsopp
- Clement B. G. London. “Forging a Cultural Identity: Leadership and Development in Mass Education in a Developing Caribbean Country.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, 1991, pp. 251–267. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2784335. Accessed 8 Apr. 2021.
- Duvivier, Sandra C. Callaloo, vol. 31, no. 2, 2008, pp. 632–636. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27654848. Accessed 8 Apr. 2021.
Featured Image by KongQueror.
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