Hewanorra, Land of Iguanas: St. Lucia

In today’s episode we explore the history of St. Lucia from indigenous tribes to colonization, slavery, and independence. It delves into the multicultural influences on modern-day St. Lucian culture, highlighting notable figures, national dishes, and traditional celebrations like Carnival and Creole Heritage Month.

Resources

https://www.stlucia.org/en/discover-saint-lucia/history-culture/

http://saintluciamissionun.org/about-saint-lucia/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Lucia

https://tracingafricanroots.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/st-lucia-slave-census-of-1815-reflecting-english-or-french-slave-trade-patterns/

https://www.facebook.com/KnowYourCaribbean/photos/stlucia-liberated-itself-from-slavery-for-almost-a-year-during-the-height-of-the/300705030643178/

https://www.slucia.com/visions/2002/indian.html

https://www.slucia.com/visions/plantation.html

https://www.stlucia.org/en/discover-saint-lucia/culinary

https://carnivalsaintlucia.com/history-of-the-carnival/

https://www.officeholidays.com/holidays/saint-lucia/saint-lucia-national-day

Recipes:

https://youtu.be/_o779MtHHL0?si=7k09WxjA_Bs1VJfw 

Transcript

Hema: Hi Mireille,

Mireille: Hi Hema,

Hema: We are back with another episode of The Moreish Podcast. We ended last week with a little hint on the country that we are covering today. We said that one of the Indigenous names for the island is now the name of its international airport.

Mireille, which country are we talking about today?

Mireille: St Lucia. As happens with many Caribbean islands, both my uncle and my cousins have been the ambassador of Saint Lucia to the US and I spent a summer with them when I was a teenager in St. Lucia.

 St. Lucia is located in the Lesser Antilles, 24 miles south of Martinique and 21 miles northeast of St. Vincent. There's been no archaeological proof that the Siboney people were in St. Lucia, although some histories may report this.

The Arawaks were the first to arrive from South America somewhere around 200 to 400 A. D. and they named the island Louanalao, don't count on me for that pronunciation, meaning Land of Iguanas.

The Kalinago arrived in 800 A.D.  They killed all the men, but the women were integrated with the Kalinago. They called the island Hewanorra.

Hema: That is the name that I referenced earlier, that the International Airport is named after Hewanorra. 

Mireille: The Hewanorra had an evolved society with hereditary kings and shamans. The more aggressive Kalinago compared to the Arawaks were known for their ferocity in battles. Their war canoes were able to hold more than a hundred men and were fast enough to catch sailing ships. There is some dispute about which European first came across the island.

Some reports say Columbus discovered it on his second voyage to the new world in 1493. However, most reports credit Juan de Cosa, a navigator responsible for creating the first world maps with discovering the island in 1499. Somewhere in the 1550s, a French pirate, Francois Leclerc set up camp, affectionately known as Jambe de Bois due to his wooden leg.

However, attempted settlement of the island did not occur until the 1600s. In the 1600s, the Dutch, French, and the English would all try to settle the island, however, disease and fighting the Kalinago would get rid of the European settlers in short order.

Hema: Somewhere in there, apparently in the 1500s, is when St. Lucia got its name. This could be folklore, but I will just share a little tidbit that I read. Apparently some French sailors got shipwrecked on the island on December 13th. This day is named after a young Christian woman named Lucy, who for several reasons and behavior that was unbecoming to a young Christian woman at the time, was put to death. Today, December 13th, is National Day in St. Lucia with Festival of Light, the Feast of St. Luce, who is the patron saint of light. And interestingly, St. Lucia is not the only country who commemorates Lucy. Malta, England, France, and Scandinavia all consider her a saint and have celebrations commemorating Lucy.

Mireille: I didn't come across this specifically in my research. I do know about St. Luce Day. I know there's even a cake, St. Lucia cake, that's made.

Hema: The article that I, that I read said St. Lucia is one of the few countries named after a woman. 

Mireille: Oh wow, that's cool. In the early 1600s, the first attempted settlement by the Dutch was set up in present day, okay I don't speak French, Vieux Fort.

 In 1605, a British ship on its way to Guyana was blown off course and arrived. The 67 people decided to settle there. But within five weeks, only 19 remained between disease and battles with the Kalinago. This prompted the rest to leave. In 1639, the British established the settlement with 400 settlers. Within two years, the Kalinago got rid of them.

In 1643 the first permanent settlement was established in St. Lucia by the French. The governor, De Rousselan took a Kalinago wife and perhaps this is why they were allowed to settle.

Hema: I wonder if his taking a Kalinago wife was controversial.

Mireille: I don't know because, I don't know, it just said that he took a wife and you know that kind of eased relationships with the Kalinago.

I did read reports though that there was a woman who actually warned the English and the French with battles upcoming with the Kalinago. So I'm not sure how or where those alli… or why those alliances were formed, but they were.

In 1651, Thomas Warner, son of the Thomas Warner, we mentioned in our St Kitts episode, bought some land from the Kalinago for the French West Indian company. Only 89 of the thousand men he brought with him would survive. The British took this opportunity to try to also reestablish themselves on the island.

In 1674, St. Lucia would become a dependency of Martinique under the French crown. The constant fight between the French and the English, as well as the hard fight put up by the Kalinago against colonization, resulted in slavery coming to St. Lucia much later than other Caribbean islands, and far less slaves coming there at all.

Additionally, the topography of mountains, rivers, and ravines made setting up plantations nearly impossible, except for coastal areas, particularly in Soufrière Parish. Slavery would not come to St. Lucia until the 1700s. For this reason, there are far fewer records of the exact dates of arrival to St.Lucia. During the 1700s, sugar became a major crop for the island. With the French base in Martinique and the British base in Barbados, the two countries would continue to fight over the island. 

Dubbed the Helen of the West, St. Lucia was under both English and French rule seven times each until 1814 when the French finally ceded the island to the British. When the French were in power, the French would establish large sugar plantations. Largely worked by indentured servants from Europe until slavery came to the island.

Sugar would remain the primary crop for St. Lucia until 1964 when it would be replaced by bananas. The enslaved people of St. Lucia represented Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, and the Congo. However, the majority came from the Bight of Biafra, present day Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.

In addition to sugar, cotton, coffee, and cocoa would be cultivated for exportation. Black people were classified as Africans, those born in Africa, Creoles, those born in the Americas, and Mulattoes, those of mixed race. And this classification was pretty much ubiquitous on all British Caribbean islands.

Hema: Are those classifications still used in St. Lucia today?

Mireille: Those words are still used, but they mean different things. The African classification doesn't really exist because, we don't have Africans coming en masse to the Caribbean anymore, you know, but creoles and mulattoes, yes, those expressions are used. I would say mulatto more than creoles, but it doesn't have the same meaning anymore.

There was a hierarchy of enslaved people on the plantations. Appearance, skills, ethnicity, and place of birth all affected status. Skilled people like drivers, masons, carpenters, wheelwrights, and laundressess had a higher status than field slaves. Mulattos usually were personal or house slaves, with the women mostly being cooks, house servants, or nannies.

As the enslaved population heard about the French Revolution in 1789, they began to demand their freedom. In 1791, when the enslaved people went to the British asking for their freedom, they were all executed.

In 1794, when the French were in power again, the French governor granted freedom to all of the enslaved people. These freed people would be known as Brigands by the British.

In 1795, aided by the French, with 600 soldiers, the enslaved started a rebellion against the British. A crucial battle took place on April 22nd. Much destruction occurred, the British were eventually defeated on June 19th and the British retreated off of the island.

The people would enjoy a year of freedom until the British would invade with 5,000 troops. Although the British won this battle, the female leader of the Brigands is a notable historical leader to remember. Her name was Flore Bois Gaillard. 

With the French busy fighting the Haitian Revolution, the British would gain control of the island in 1803 and restore slavery. The previously freed men would set up maroon communities in the rainforests. By 1810, 80 percent of the population was enslaved, 10 percent were freed people of color, and the remaining were white Europeans.

In 1834, when slavery was abolished, the previously enslaved still had to work a four year apprenticeship, which they were not paid for. They had to work for their previous slave owners for at least three quarters of the work week. Full freedom would not be achieved until 1838, at which time St. Lucia was incorporated into the British Windward Islands. 

Hema: This apprenticeship has come up in previous episodes, and I'm sure it's going to come up again. Apprenticeship is, from my understanding, a stage between slavery and emancipation where formerly enslaved people had to continue to work. And what it sounds like to me is it was just slavery rebranded.

Mireille: I agree. At the time of emancipation, there were about 13, 000 enslaved, 2,600 freed Black, and 2,300 whites on the island. Since France would not emancipate the enslaved until 1848, many escaped people from Dominica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Vincent would run to St. Lucia for refuge. These people became known as Neg Mawon or the Black Maroons. As with many other Caribbean islands, indentured servants from India would arrive to replace the slave labor. About 6 000 people would arrive in St. Lucia from India between 1856 and 1893, mostly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Their contracts lasted for five years, with an additional five to ten years of industrial residency requiring them to stay on the island. By 1897, all indentured servant contracts had expired.

About half returned to India, although more would have returned had the repatriation money not have been exhausted. By 1900, St. Lucia had a free East Indian population of 2,560 people. As with many other Caribbean countries with East Indian descended populations, many would intermarry with the Black populations.

This created a racial classification unique to the Caribbean, Dougla. A Dougla is a person of mixed Indian and Black parents. While the East Indian populations of the Caribbean are quite removed now from the Indian culture whence they came, the Indo Caribbean culture is its own entity, however, the East Indian roots still linger with Diwali celebrations.

Hema: Coming from an Indo Caribbean family, it's interesting that there are many of the Indian traditions still present, but really very much like there are still African traditions present in the Caribbean, it has morphed and changed to its own identity and own culture.

Mireille: Exactly. In 1924, the first constitution was established, giving the islands some representative government. Various levels of self government was attempted throughout the 1950s and 1960s, until 1967, when along with Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, Anguilla, Antigua, as well as St. Kitts and Nevis, they became Associated States. St. Lucia finally got their independence within the British Commonwealth on February 22, 1979. Modern St. Lucian culture is a mix of African, Indigenous, British, French, and Dutch influences.

 About 85 percent of the population is Black, with the remaining people making up minorities of East Indian, Mulattoes of Mixed Heritage, and White. Although St. Lucia got their independence from the British, the French influence remained strong on the island in their language, dress, and majority Catholic religion.

The Madras Creole dress, derived from the Wob Dwiyet, mentioned in the Dominica episode, is the national dress usually worn during Independence Day, National Day, and Creole Day. St. Lucian's also speak a French based Patois language, influenced by the languages of the Niger Congo areas of Africa, although English is the official language.

Derek Walcott, one of the most well known Caribbean authors of poetry, uh, history and plays, is a St. Lucian who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.

Hema: He apparently wrote his first poem at the age of 14. And from what I've read, he wrote these poems and sold them on the street. His collection, In a Green Night, was about the Caribbean, the history, the scars of colonialism and post colonialism. But Mireille, he was not the first St.Lucian to win a Nobel Prize. In 1979, Sir Arthur Lewis shared the Nobel Prize for his studies of economic development.

Mireille: Like other Caribbean islands, Carnival is celebrated in St. Lucia with reference to its historical roots, costumes, food, and music. In St. Lucia, it happens in July. You know one thing I find interesting? How Carnival is celebrated pretty much throughout the Caribbean, anywhere from February to September.

Hema: You know, when I was reading about Carnival in St. Lucia, they did say on one of the Carnival sites that they particularly chose a different time of the year so as not to compete with Trinidad Carnival.

We've talked about Carnival in previous episodes and there are a few notable things about the St. Lucia Carnival that I wanted to share.

The first recorded celebration was in 1947 in Castries, the capital. It was informal, an impromptu celebration with a group of people in makeshift costumes, they used bottles and pieces of steel for instruments, and it ended at the home of the Walcotts, who you just mentioned. The following year in 1948 is when it became more of an organized event, with steel bands, costumes, and calypso, which apparently wasn't all that well received, the Calypso, because the lyrics were considered vulgar. Interestingly, the first costumed band was elected Band of the Year, and the costumes were designed by Roderick Walcott, brother of Derek.

Mireille: Speaking of Carnival and its, you know, relations to history, I also wanted to mention Creole Heritage Month, which happens in October with a whole month of celebrating the island's cultural, ethnic, and artistic history. Seminars, lectures, music, culinary events, street parties, and art exhibitions culminate on October 29th with Creole Day, which is known as Jounen Kweyol, where people will dress in the national costume. 

And you know, this is very similar to like theCreole Month that, or the Creole Week that we had mentioned in Dominica, and it happens around the same time of year as well.

Hema: Yes, this celebration of French Creole heritage is in the grand scheme of things relatively new. It started with a one day celebration in 1981 or around then. And as Mireille mentioned is now a whole month of celebration.

The Wob Dwiyet that Mireille talked about earlier is worn during these celebrations, foods such as the national dish that I'll be talking about, and things like pepper pot, pigtail callaloo or Lambie made with conchs is served.

Mireille: Wow, I didn't know they make lambi too, because that's one of the most popular Haitian dishes. It's my all time favorite Haitian dish.

Hema: It's, it's a dish that I've never had, and I think we've talked about this before, Mireille, I'm not a fan of conchs.

 Let's move on to the national dish. St. Lucia Tourism Authority describes the cuisine of St. Lucia as an eclectic mix of American, European, maybe French and British, Indian, and Caribbean flavors. You'll find a lot of seafood, fresh fruits, veggies, and spice. Not the spice that we've talked about before, but spicy as in hot. There are some recipes and ingredients that are common to other parts of the Caribbean, like rice and beans, ground provisions, callaloo soup, cassava, yams, plantain, and breadfruit.

The national dish of St. Lucia is Fig and Saltfish. And we've talked about saltfish in previous episodes, and you can start to see from some of the episodes that there are a lot of similarities in the cuisine from island to island. And why would that be? Because so much of the history of the Caribbean is similar.

You'll hear the same countries colonizing or quote unquote discovering the countries of the Caribbean, attempting to take over, driving out the Indigenous population, participating in the transatlantic slave trade, and indentured servitude. So that's why it makes sense that so much of the cuisine is similar but with a unique twist from island to island. In Fig and Saltfish refers to green bananas. You'll find that across the Caribbean, fig refers to green bananas often. When I was growing up, fig to me was also those little bananas, which I think are called ladyfinger bananas.

Mireille: My mom always called green banana fig, and a few months ago, I did a TikTok and I mentioned something alluding to that. And oh my gosh, the Caribbean people attacked me. Nobody calls that fig.

Hema: It's interesting because fi,g green bananas to me would go in like a provision soup. Although I don't use it quite a lot. I don't know. How come the little bananas was fig to me when I was growing up.

Mireille: In Haiti, the little bananas are called fig. Bananas in general are called fig if I recall. I'm not fluent in Creole.

Hema: The unripe bananas are boiled and cooked, saltfish is added along with spices and aromatics, and that's basically the national dish.It's a pretty simple dish, but so full of flavor.

If you've ever tried to peel a green banana, it can be a little bit challenging. So to help the skin come off, the bananas can be boiled or soaked in hot boiling water. And the simple way to do this is to top and tail. So take off each end a little bit from each end and score the skin once from end to end. 

Mireille, when I'm cooking plantain, whether it's just boiled or boil & fry, this is how I do it. I will top and tail it and boil plantain whole in the skin.

I don't know if you've ever had boil & fry plantain, which is when we boil it in the skin, peel it, cut it, and then fry it.

Mireille: No, whenever I've had fried plantain, it's just straight fried.

Hema: To make this national dish, once peeled, the bananas are boiled in salted water and then sliced, and the soaked or boiled saltfish is flaked and sautéed in a separate pan with thyme, garlic, onion, bell peppers, pimento peppers, and chives. If you think about it, green bananas don't have a lot of flavor, but what it does is it takes on the flavor of the saltfish and the aromatics to create a delicious dish. 

Mireille, I've said this before and it's worth noting again because I have seen a lot of comments on social media about saltfish being too salty. Saltfish must be soaked or boiled before eating to get rid of the salt. It is super salty and the reason for that is it's a method of preservation. Way back in the day, salting was done to ensure that the fish lasted the long journey aboard the ships to the Caribbean as a cheap source of protein for the enslaved people and later the indentured servants. So yes, it is super salty, but that is only for the purposes of preservation. 

While fig and saltfish is a hearty dish unto itself, it may be served with callaloo soup or breadfruit, which we've talked about before, and know was a cheap source of carbohydrates that was brought to the Caribbean from the Caribbean to feed the enslaved people,

Mireille: I wanted to ask if you came across St. Lucian Dal, because it is totally not what you're probably expecting from something named Dal.

Hema: I did. And to me, it looks like an aloo pie, which is something that I grew up eating and you'll find all over Trinidad, probably other places. And when I was growing up, not only did my mom make it stuffed with potatoes, which is what aloo is, but also made different versions with salmon or egg & cheese. So it looks very similar, except Mireille, what is it stuffed with?

Mireille: This is a cross between an aloo pie and a dhalpuri. Okay? Because the pastry is stuffed with ground split peas and usually salt fish and then it's you know stuffed and fried.

Hema: And for anybody who doesn't know what an aloo pie is, it basically is a hand pie stuffed with spiced potatoes. 

Mireille: And dhalpuri, for those who don't know, is basically a roti that's stuffed with ground split peas that are, again, seasoned and spiced.

Hema: Before we wrap up, did you notice the French and African influences throughout this episode?

Mireille: Thanks for joining us this week as we explored St. Lucia on The Moreish Podcast.

Hema: Come back next week when Mireille and I will be talking about the Caribbean nation that is a country made up of one main island and 32 smaller islands. If you know what we're talking about, head over to Instagram or TikTok and leave us a message. Thanks so much.

Mireille: Bye!

Hema: Bye!