June 2010

Grenadian Nursery Rhymes

Children and mothers the world over have been rhythmically chanting nursery rhymes since time immemorial, accompanying the words with often elaborate rituals of hand-clapping and body movements that seem to tap in to the collective unconscious. Children’s nursery rhymes often also preserve group memory in a highly condensed and eloquent form when the young singers [...]

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Carriacou Language and Sayings

With such a succession of European empire-builders romping through the Grenadines down the centuries since the ‘discovery’ of Grenada by Columbus in 1498, you might expect a wide variety of dialects in the Carriacou language derived from Spanish, French and British influences. In fact, English is the island’s official language, conveniently enough for most visitors, [...]

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Carriacou Regatta

Carriacou Regatta

‘More Race, More Fun in the Carriacou Sun!’ is the slogan of the annual Carriacou Regatta, entering its 45th year in 2010, and primarily the creation of one man, Jamaican-born John Linton Riggs. Riggs planned to retire to Carriacou in the early 1950s but found himself instead getting involved with the island’s culture and waning [...]

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Carriacou Carnival

Carnival time is always something to look forward to on Carriacou. It is celebrated in February, the weekend before Ash Wednesday, on the island and is characterised by an explosion of colour and noise in which everyone on Carriacou and neighbouring islands makes a contribution in one form or another. The history of carnival is [...]

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Getting to Carriacou

Osprey Ferry

It’s fair to say that getting to Carriacou is not quite as straightforward as hopping on a flight to NewYork or Miami, and you have to be a little bit creative. But this is all par for the course in the Caribbean, where things tend to be a bit laid back and flexible, and where [...]

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