Caribbean folklore

Caribbean folklore includes a mix of traditions, tales, and beliefs of the Caribbean region. Caribbean folklore was shaped by a history filled with violence, colonialism, slavery, and multicultural influences. Caribbean folklore has a variety of different characters that portray different traits. Folklore has evolved by blending folk speech, Creole dialogue, and many different elements that create the literary form of folklore, which portrays the "spirit" and "soul" of the Caribbean. Many themes are covered in Caribbean folklore, including colonial legacies, diversity in cultures, and the search for identity. Writers such as Nalo Hopkinson use these folklore elements in their writings by weaving myths and traditions into their modern-day storytelling.

Background

Folklore includes traditional customs, sayings, dances, tales, or art forms that are preserved among a group of people. Different groups have different tales and stories of their people, like the Caribbean. In Caribbean folklore, different characters have remained consistent throughout time through both oral and written stories, such as the "Ananse" and "Papa Bois". Over the past 80 years, the use of folk speech and Creole dialogue to include other folklore materials and the use of folk speech in the narrative voice has evolved. Folklore has served as a "vulcanizing agent" to create a new form of literature that is unique to the Caribbean, a literature that includes the "soul" and "spirit" of a region and its people. Many Caribbean societies have a history of colonialism, slavery, outside influences, and the struggles for independence. These issues have shaped Caribbean folklore's representation in Caribbean children's literature. The Caribbean region has a history of violent imperial domination, which contrasts with its Edenic setting. This history involves the extermination of Native Americans, the African slave trade, and the arrival of indentured servants from China and East India. This diverse mix of cultures, languages, and traditions contributes to Caribbean folklore. The Caribbean's unique geopolitical features and multicultural landscape inspire artists and writers to navigate multiple identities while maintaining a vibrant regional aesthetic in their works. This multicultural identity is an ongoing theme in Caribbean literature and folklore, exploring the dynamics between colonial legacies, cultural diversity, and the quest for individual and collective identity. Caribbean literature and folklore is often classified by language (English, Dutch, Spanish, and French). When depicting Creole culture in language, it is often from the perspective of an outsider looking into the life of indigenous people and witnessing the cultural differences. Oral traditions, including Anancy stories and folklore, influenced the storytelling style in Caribbean culture.

Characters

Popular throughout the Caribbean region are the Anancy Stories (also known as Nancy Stories), which have their roots in West Africa. Ananse is the Asante word for spider. Ananse is the Asante word for spider. The trickster Anancy (also known as Ananci, Ananse, Anansi, Ananci Krokoko, and Brer Nancy), with his quick-witted intelligence and his knack for surviving the odds, often through trickery, is popular in this genre of African-Caribbean folk-tale characters, although there are other West African influences in folklore characters, including the hare (chief character in the Yoruba folktales) and the tortoise, which features in the stories of the Ibo people.

In addition to these stories, African religious figures also comprise a notable part of Caribbean folklore, many of the supernatural folklore figures possessing characteristics which are identical with those of African deities, and include:

"Papa Bois", who appears in many different forms, sometimes as a deer, or in old ragged clothes, sometimes hairy and though very old, strong and muscular, with cloven hoofs and leaves growing out of his beard. As the guardian of the animals and the custodian of the trees, he is known to sound a cow's horn to warn his friends of the approach of hunters. He doesn't tolerate killing for killing's sake, and the wanton destruction of the forest.

"La Diablesse", the devil woman, is sometimes personified as an old crone, who steps forth with her cloven hoof from behind a tree on a lonely road, the sound of chains mingling with the rustle of her petticoat. Sometimes she takes the form of a beautiful woman, to lure some unsuspecting passerby to his death or perhaps to madness. Although she may appear young, she will be dressed in the traditional costume of these islands: a madras turban, chemise with half-sleeves and much embroidery and lace, zepingue tremblant ("trembling pins of gold"), and all the finery of by-gone days. Even when she appears beautiful, there is something that betrays her – she often has one hoof and a normal human foot or two hooves that she uses her long, flowing gown to hide.

"Mama Dlo" or "Mama Dglo" (known in West Africa today as Mammy Wata), whose name is derived from the French maman de l'eau, which means "mother of the water", is akin to the mermaid figure of European folklore and represents West African water spirits and there is a spirit called a cocoyea who feasts on children then eats them up – they also can change into different shapes.

The "Soucouyant", whose French-derived name comes from the word "to suck", is personified by a woman, often old, who sheds her skin at night and flies through the skies, sometimes as a ball of flame, to suck blood from her victims.

The "Ligahoo" or "Loup Garou" is a shape changer, a man who has power over nature and the capacity to change form to that of an animal. Or in Caribbean Myths the Loup-Garou is a man who made a deal with the devil, to have the ability to change form (to a werewolf) so that at night he could go around to kill without ever being caught.

Notable storytellers

Roy Heath

Roy Heath was a Guyanese author who wrote novels based on stories from Afro-Guyanese and Amerindian folklore. Some of the themes his novels explored include doom, dreams, and the use of masks, all motifs in Caribbean folklore. Many of his works also reflect the interconnections between oral and written folklore in African and African-Caribbean traditions. His notable novels include The Murderer (1978), Kwaku; or the Man Who Could Not Keep His Mouth Shut (1982), Orealla (1984), and The Shadow Bride (1988).

Grace Hallworth

Grace Hallworth is a storyteller from Trinidad and Tobago, whose notable works include Stories to Read and Tell (1973), The Carnival Kite (1980), Mouth Open and Story Jump Out (1984). She retells traditional Caribbean tales, preserving and revitalizing Caribbean narratives.

Dionne Brand

Dionne Brand is a writer and political activist from Trinidad and Tobago. Her writings cover Caribbean cultures, addressing themes of race, history, memory, gender, and sexuality. Brand is known for her poetry collections Earth Magic (1979), and A Caribbean Dozen (1994). These works offer a unique perspective on the essence of childhood within Caribbean culture.

Nalo Hopkinson

Nalo Hopkinson is a writer from Jamaica who weaves Caribbean folklore into her stories. Her works usually include Afro-Caribbean myths, traditions, and language. Characters in her novels, such as Brown Girl in the Ring (1998) and Midnight Robber (2000), engage with spirits from Caribbean folklore. She uses motifs, rituals, and belief systems in her plots.

Bibliography and further reading

• Abrahams, Roger D. (1985). African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World. Penguin.
• Elswit, Sharon Barcan (2017). The Caribbean Story Finder: A Guide to 438 Tales from 24 Nations and Territories, Listing Subjects and Sources. McFarland & Company, Inc.
• Wolkstein, Diane (1997). The Magic Orange Tree: and Other Haitian Folktales. Penguin Random House.

External links

• Contemporary Writing based on Trinidad and Tobago folk characters
• Contes créoles (Creole tales)
• Traditions orales aux Antilles Françaises (Oral traditions in the French West Indies)