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| Mordecai, Martin and Pamela. ''Culture and Customs of Jamaica''. Greenwood Press. 2001. | Mordecai, Martin and Pamela. ''Culture and Customs of Jamaica''. Greenwood Press. 2001. | ||
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Revision as of 20:34, 14 April 2006
As the original Taino Indians all died, Jamaican culture represents a rich blend of cultures that have since inhabited the island. Spanish and British settlers, and West African slaves brought cultural elements, as did East Asian and Indian immigrants who came to the island as indentured servants.
Tainos
The biggest areas of influence of the Taino Indians on Jamaica was in language and foods. In fact, Jamaica's name comes from the Taino name for the island, Xaymaca: the "land of wood and water." Other words include:
- Cohiba - the Taino word for tobacco.
- Tabaco - the Taino word for the pipe from which they smoked.
- Hamaca - the Taino word for hammocks, which they used as beds.
Foods included cassava, maize, waterfowl, and, of course, seafood. The Tainos' diet became the diet of the early Spanish settlers, and the native plants have remained over time, though iguanas and manatees are not a part of the current Jamaican diet.
Rastafari
The best know side of Jamaican culture is reggae music, and the Rastafarians who are recognised all over the world for playing what is a distinctively syncopated style that arose from another Jamaican sound, ska. Bob Marley, from Kingston, is doubtless the best known performer of this style. But not every Rastafarian plays reggae music, and not every reggae listener is Rastafarian.
Rastafarianism is a religion based on the Christian King James Bible. The Bible is read in an Ethiopianist fashion, and adherents believe in the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia as an avatar of God, or Jah. Marcus Garvey and a back-to-Africa movement both inspired this religion.
Some "rastas" wear their hair in dreadlocks. Others only eat food that is I-tal, which is somewhat similar to a vegan diet where certain foods are avoided. However, there is not a well-defined dogma in Rastafarianism.
Other
Derek Walcott, a Nobel prize laureate, attended college in Jamaica. Other significant writers from the island include Claude McKay and Louis Simpson. Plays and works in Jamaican English, or patois, attract special attention. Louise Bennett, Andrew Salkey and Michael Smith have contributed to this phenomenon by writing works in patois. Ian Fleming wrote his famous James Bond novels while living in Jamaica.
See also
For more information on Jamaican music, see Music of Jamaica.
For more information on the National Gallery of Jamaica, see National Gallery of Jamaica.
For more information on Rasta, see Rastafari movement.
For more information on the patois, see Jamaican English.
External links
Further reading
Mordecai, Martin and Pamela. Culture and Customs of Jamaica. Greenwood Press. 2001.
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