Junkanoo celebration in Nassau
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an English-speaking country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets (rocks). It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) and the Caribbean Sea, northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States of America. Its size is almost 14 000 km², with an estimated population of 330,000. Its capital is Nassau. It is a Commonwealth realm.
Culture
In the less developed outer islands, handicrafts include basketry made from palm fronds. This material, commonly called "straw", is plaited into hats and bags that are popular tourist items. Another use is for so-called "Voodoo dolls," even though such dolls are the result of the American imagination and not based on historic fact.[1]
Obeah, a religion of folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices derived from Central and West African origins, is practiced in some of the Family Islands (out-islands) of the Bahamas.
Junkanoo is a street parade of music, dance, and art held in many cities of the Bahamas every Boxing Day, New Year's Day and also held for other holidays such as Fox Hill Day.
Regattas are important social events in many family island settlements. They usually feature one or more days of sailing by old-fashioned work boats, as well as an onshore festival.
Some settlements have festivals associated with the traditional crop or food of that area, such as the "Pineapple Fest" in Gregory Town, Eleuthera or the "Crab Fest" on Andros. Other significant traditions include story telling.
References
- ^ Hurbon, Laennec. "American Fantasy and Haitian Vodou.” Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. Ed. Donald J. Cosentino. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995. 181–97.
Further reading
General history
- Cash Philip et al. (Don Maples, Alison Packer). The Making of the Bahamas: A History for Schools. London: Collins, 1978.
- Albury, Paul. The Story of The Bahamas. London: MacMillan Caribbean, 1975.
- Miller, Hubert W. The Colonization of the Bahamas, 1647–1670, The William and Mary Quarterly 2 no.1 (January 1945): 33–46.
- Craton, Michael. A History of the Bahamas. London: Collins, 1962.
- Craton, Michael and Saunders, Gail. Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People. Athens:University of Georgia Press, 1992
Economic history
- Johnson, Howard. The Bahamas in Slavery and Freedom. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishing, 1991.
- Johnson, Howard. The Bahamas from Slavery to Servitude, 1783–1933. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1996.
- Alan A. Block. Masters of Paradise, New Brunswick and London, Transaction Publishers, 1998.
- Storr, Virgil H. Enterprising Slaves and Master Pirates: Understanding Economic Life in the Bahamaz. New York: Peter Lang, 2004.
Social history
- Johnson, Wittington B. Race Relations in the Bahamas, 1784–1834: The Nonviolent Transformation from a Slave to a Free Society. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 2000.
- Shirley, Paul. "Tek Force Wid Force", History Today 54, no. 41 (April 2004): 30–35.
- Saunders, Gail. The Social Life in the Bahamas 1880s–1920s. Nassau: Media Publishing, 1996.
- Saunders, Gail. Bahamas Society After Emancipation. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishing, 1990.
- Curry, Jimmy. Filthy Rich Gangster/First Bahamian Movie. Movie Mogul Pictures: 1996.
- Curry, Jimmy. To The Rescue/First Bahamian Rap/Hip Hop Song. Royal Crown Records, 1985.
- Morrelo, Ryan. "
Links
- Wikimedia Atlas of Bahamas
- The Official Tourism Website of The Islands Of The Bahamas (USA)
- The Official UK Tourism Website of The Islands Of The Bahamas
- Official website for Bahamas government
- Bahamas travel guide from Wikitravel
- Bahamas Financial Services Board
- The Bahamas Constitution
- Bahamas entry at The World Factbook
- The Bahamas at the University of Colorado at Boulder
- The Bahamas at the Open Directory Project
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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