Jounen Kwéyòl (Creole Day) is celebrated in the Caribbean islands of

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

and

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

, on the last Friday of October and the last Sunday of October respectively and has been held annually since 1984. Throughout the preceding week, the various towns on both islands host cultural events and festivals which showcase different elements of their heritage and culture.

Cultural Dishes

There are multiple displays of local dishes and foods such as roasted breadfruit, Coupe (a sweetbread made by mixing spices and sugar into flour and kneading it then baking it, usually served at breakfast),

callaloo Callaloo ( , ; many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux, or callalloo) is a plant used in popular dishes in many Caribbean countries, while for other Caribbean countries, a stew made with the plant is called call ...

soup,

green fig Green bananas are unripe bananas used in cuisines worldwide. They have a firmer texture and a starchy, mildly astringent taste compared to their ripe counterparts. Around the world Africa In East Africa, a starchy triploid banana cultivar o ...

and

salt fish Salted fish, such as Kipper, kippered herring or dried and salted cod, is fish curing (food preservation), cured with dry Salt#Edible salt, salt and thus food preservation, preserved for later eating. Drying (food), Drying or Salting (food), salt ...

(The National Dish of Saint Lucia), and grated vegetables such as carrots and cabbage. A dish known as Bouillon (lentils/red beans and pumpkin soup with pork or beef, green plantains, dumplings, spinach, and chopped carrots along with other ground provisions) is usually prepared. Local drinks are available, such as Cocoa Tea, Sorrel juice, different types of alcoholic punch (breadfruit, sea-moss and peanut, to name a few), Spice (an alcoholic drink made by mixing local spices and various barks from medicinal plants with rum),

Golden Apple The golden apple is an element that appears in various legends that depict a hero (for example Hercules or Făt-Frumos) retrieving the golden apples hidden or stolen by an antagonist. Gold apples also appear on the Silver Branch of the Otherwor ...

Juice,

Guava Guava ( ), also known as the 'guava-pear', is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), nativ ...

juice, Orange juice and many more local fruit juices. Apart from the variety of cultural foods, the day is commemorated with traditional folk music or 'kweyol' music, some of which have been passed down from prior generations.

Musical Instruments

The most widely used instruments during Creole Day performances, besides vocals, are the "Shak-Shak" (similar to the

maraca A maraca ( , , ), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas, also known as tamaracas, were rattles of d ...

s), the Boom-Boom (a large, wooden, windpipe instrument),

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

, and Tambos (a goat-skin drum, beaten during traditional dances or recitations of Creole-language songs or limericks). Jounen Kwéyòl is usually observed by wearing the island's national wear, which is composed of the Wob Dwiete and jip ensemble for the women and a Madras (a special type of plaid material) jacket, white shirt, black slacks, and red sash for the men. Today, however, people frequently use Madras to create less formal versions of traditional clothing. This event is also celebrated at schools, where students are allowed to dress in their Madras outfits and take part in the aforementioned activities. This has become a custom in the islands of Dominica and Saint Lucia.

References

* (Missole - Saint Lucian)
Official Tourist Guide

October - Creole Month
Music festivals in Dominica Music festivals in Saint Lucia {{music-festival-stub