Antigua And Barbuda

Traditions and customs of Antigua and Barbuda

What traditions and customs are there in Antigua and Barbuda?

The most interesting customs and traditions of Antigua and Barbuda.

Gastronomy

Food in daily life. Antigua and Barbuda has long imported most of its food, so it’s no wonder that the food Antiguans and Barbuda people eat consists of Creole dishes or specialties that reflect the cuisine of their parent cultures. In recent years, there has been a strong invasion of American fast food chains, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Among the most established Creole specialties of Antigua and Barbuda are rice pudding, salt fish and antennae (eggplant; the national breakfast), bull’s foot soup, souse, maw, goat water, cockle water (clam), shell water and Dukuna.

The salt cod that is used to prepare the national breakfast is not a local fish. It is an import from the United States and Canada that has been imported since before the revolt of the American colonies.

Marriage

The families of Antigua and Barbuda are Creole formations. Among whites, upper-class creolization is minimal. Patterns of marriage, family organization, and gender roles are similar to those in the West with minor local adaptations.

The same happens with the middle classes, except for the greater presence of local adaptations. Among the black working class, family life is much more a mixture of the African and European systems.

Although the institutions of grooming health (marriage payments) and lineage groups have been lost, the African view of marriage as a process that occurs over many years has remained. yes

With the permission of the excrex, the family for a young couple begins in what have been called visiting relationships, which often become co-residential, and may finally be issued in a formal marriage ceremony that is Christian.

Like many African families, these Creole families are matrifocal, centered on the mother’s lineage, with strong traditions of women working outside the home. As a result, there are very high labor force participation rates for women in Antigua and Barbuda.

Religious beliefs

The religious life of the Ancients and Barbudans is predominantly Christian. In 1991, 32 percent of the population was Anglican, 12 percent Moravian, 10 percent Catholic, and 9 percent Methodist. This Christian orientation, however, is creolized and changes as we move up the class hierarchy.

For most of their history, the churches of Antigua and Barbuda were colonial institutions—foreign branches of churches based in England, whose pastors were in control. Thus, unlike the Afro-American church, the Afro-Ancient and Barbudan church does not have a long history of autonomous development. Autonomy came with independence from the state.

Despite this anglicization, religious practices have not escaped creolization. Among Afro-Ancients and Barbudians, traces of African religious heritage have survived in the practice of Obeah and in inclinations towards more ecstatic modes of worship.

The postcolonial period has seen a significant creolization of church music, which has been influenced by calypso, reggae, and African-American gospel music.

Arts and Humanities

The most developed art forms in Antigua and Barbuda are mas (street theatre), theatre, calypso, steel band, architecture, poetry and fiction. Less developed are the arts of painting, sculpture and carving.

In the case of the most developed art forms, the processes of cultural hybridization have successfully produced different Creole formations that are expressively linked to the subjectivity and rituals of Antiguans and Barbudians.

Literature

In the area of ​​fiction and poetry, writers include Jamaica Kincaid, Ralf Prince, Elaine Olaoye, and Dorbrene Omard.

Performing arts

Good examples of different Creole formations are the calypso and the steel band. Set to a different rhythmic beat, calypsos are songs of social commentary that range from the comical to the tragic.

One of the main consequences of decolonization on this art form has been its expansion to include religious themes and situations. Antigua and Barbuda’s calypso kings include Shortshirt, Swallow, Stubborn, Onyan and Smarty Jr.

Steel bands, one of the few musical instruments invented in the 20th century, are made up of a series of base pans, base pans, tenor pans, etc. They are made by striking the basic notes on the surface of the steel drums used to transport the oil. The size of the bands varies between ten and one hundred trays.

First developed in Trinidad in the 1930s, the tradition quickly spread to Antigua and Barbuda. Among the best known steel bands from Antigua and Barbuda are the Brute Force, Hells Gate, Harmonites, Supa Stars and Halcyon.

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