CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND EDUCATION
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Oral Cultural Traditions
Jamaica
Oral Traditions
Jamaican oral traditions have a long legacy and
originated from West Africa, survived the Middle Passage, and resisted the
creolization of our ancestors' new identities in the New Plantation World. They
have left their oratory legacies to remind us of our colorful culture, and to
reinforce our Africanness. Although this tradition is dying out in Jamaica,
oratory storytelling is an integral part of our culture. The legacy of Jamaican
oral traditions is a bridge that connects them to their ancestors in the West
African region - it is a symbol of their African heritage.
Distinguished orators such as the late Dr Louise
Bennett-Coverley, Joan Andrea Hutchinson and Amina Blackwood-Meeks have worked
tirelessly to keep this part of the culture alive.
Famous
Jamaicans
Louise
Bennett-Coverley
Ralston
Milton Nettleford
Charles
Hyatt
Herbert
Henry McKenley
Randolph
Samuel Williams
Edna Manley
Robert
Nesta Marley
Usain
St. Leo Bolt
Poetry
and Folklore
The tradition of storytelling in Jamaica is a long
one, beginning with folktales told by the slaves during the colonial period. Jamaica's
folk stories are most closely associated with those of the Ashanti tribe in
West Africa, from which many of the slaves originated (Tortello,2004). Some
European tales were also brought to the island by immigrants, particularly
those from the United Kingdom. In folktales, the local speech style is
particularly necessary. It infuses humor into the stories and is an integral
part of the retelling.
Perhaps the most popular character in Jamaican tales,
Anancy (also spelled Anansi, 'Nancy Spida, and Brer Nansi) is an African
spider-god who makes an appearance in such throughout the Caribbean region. He
is a trickster god, and often goes against other animal-god characters, like
Tiger and Donkey, in his stories. These stories are thought to be one way the
slaves told about outsmarting their owners as well.
Folk
Culture
Their customs survived based on memory and myths. They
encompassed the life cycle, i.e. a newborn was not regarded as being of this
world until nine days had passed and burial often involved libations at the
graveside and the belief that the dead body's spirit would not be at rest for
some 40 days. They included forms of religion in which healing was considered
an act of faith completed by obeahmen and communication with the spirits involved
possession often induced by dancing and drumming. African-based religions
include Kumina, Myal, and Revival. Many involved recreational, ceremonial and
functional use of music and dance (Brathwaite, 1971). "Slaves,"
Brathwaite explains, "danced and sang at work, at play, at worship, from
fear, from sorrow from joy" (p. 220). They recreated African musical
instruments from materials found in Jamaica (calabash, conch, bamboo, etc.) and
featured improvisation in song and dance. All of these customs and many more
such as the Christmas street parades of Jonkonnu were misunderstood and
undervalued by Europeans with the exception of the political use of drumming to
send coded messages from plantation to plantation.
Drumming of any kind was therefore often banned.
Jamaican music today has emerged from the traditional musical forms of work
songs sung by slaves, the ceremonial music used in religious services and the
social and recreational music played on holidays and during leisure time
(Senior, 2003, p. 339).
The cramped housing space provided to the slaves,
which limited their dwellings (often made of wattle and daub) to one window and
one door, meant that very little other than sleeping took place indoors. Life,
as in Africa, was lived communally, outside. (Brathwaite, 1971, p. 233-4).
Similarly language, as in Africa, is considered
powerful particularly naming. Brathwaite (1971) gives an example of a woman
whose child falls ill and wants her name to be changed, believing that this
would allow her to be cured, (p. 237). Language is certainly an area where
African retention is strongest. Jamaicans today move between Patois a
creolized English and standard English. Jamaican patois was born from the
intermixing of African slaves and English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish sailors,
slaves, servants, soldiers, and merchants. The African slaves spoke many
dialects, and given the need for a common tongue, Jamaican patois was born. It
has been in use since the end of the 17th century by Jamaicans of all
ethnicities and has been added to by the Jews, Chinese, Indians, Lebanese
Germans, and French Creoles who also settled on the island. Some words also
indicate Spanish and Taino presence in Jamaican history (Senior, 2003, pp.
273-276).
Many of these traditions survive to this day, testament to the strength of West
African culture despite the process of creolisation (the intermingling of
peoples adjusting to a new environment) it encountered (Brathwaite, 1971).
Dialect Verses by Dr Louise Bennett-Coverley.
Jamaican Folk Songs (1954) and Children’s
Jamaican Songs and Games (1957)
Literature
Jamaica Labrish by Dr Louise Bennett-Coverley
Stories
Eggs and Scorpions.
Tiger's
Bone-hole.
The
Christening.
Eating Tiger's Guts.
Tales
Tales of Old
Jamaica
Myth and
legends
Rolli'n Calf
Ol' Hige
Duppies /
Ghosts
Fables:
Trickster
Tailors
One Little
Child
Uganda
Oral Traditions
The oral tradition was the only means of communication
for centuries, and writing did not begin until around 1832 and 1859. The oral
tradition, therefore, deeply shaped and shaped the institutions of different
societies in Uganda for a long time. Young people sat around the fireplaces
with their elders at night to listen to and learn from them through
storytelling. This media outlet generally seems to have taken more precedence
in Africa, perhaps illuminating the old adage "if you want to hide
something from an African, hide it in a book." In Africa, the facts of
life is not expressed silently through writing, but are expressed when they
are reunited with their children and to talk about life stories at the clan
meetings held to provide guidance and resolve conflicts. The nightly stories
from the fireplace were life-equipping lessons, and disobedience was abominable
and punishable by public flogging, ex-communication, and sometimes death.
African culture operated in a system of total obedience with a smooth handover
of tradition from one generation to another. Furthermore, it is already
difficult to identify a word that clearly translates the word dictator among
the native languages of Uganda. Oral tradition seems to have played its part
well, except for the messy misunderstanding communications about inheritance.
Folklore
stories
The story of Kintu
The story of the two friends
How the grey parrots got their red tails
He story of Mpobe the hunter
Poems
On the wings of love
Gender and freedom by Ronnie Mubiru & Collin
Wambete
Songs
The song of the old Caravan days (Nali Ngénze)
Proverbs
Even a wise man does not know everything.
You can't dig with a spade handle, but it helps the spade to dig.
A dog knows his own business and
his master's too.
Friendship is like a tailor's seam; it is the unpicking which causes
trouble.
Splutter splutter isn't fire.
Bolivia
Oral Traditions
In Bolivia, Antonio Paredes Candia published a neat the volume of stories entitled "Bolivian Tales for Children", which tells
of the adventures of a Ladino fox, known by the name of Atoj Antoño. The
cunning animal, the favorite character of the fabulists, in the first part of
the book mocks the ingenuity of all animals and, in the second, stumbles upon
an animal more mischievous than himself, known by the name of Suttu, who is a rabbit that hatches his plans until he defeats the fox. The text contains
expressions and sounds onomatopoeic in the sweet language of the Quechua and
Aymara.
In Bolivia, there are as many cultists of the fable as
compilers of the ingenious stories that are heard on the lips of the people. It
is worth mentioning the anthology "Selection of the Bolivian story for
children", by Hugo Molina Viaña, where the eminent folklorist Felipe Costa
Arguedas stands out, with the story "The partridge and the fox". Toribio
Claure also made attempts to adapt the "Cumpa rabbit", but without
achieving good results, since his texts, sensibly, had too didactic treatments,
like all the texts for reading and writing in children's literature, which were
originally submitted to the tyranny of pedagogy. Fortunately, since the 1980s
of the 20th century, several authors have taken pains to make literary
adaptations of the oral tradition, considering the degree of linguistic and
intellectual development of children.
Stories
The grandparents say that on the “San Juan nights” of
old La Paz, the one we all miss, the children fanned the bonfires, the
youngsters and gualaychos jumped through the fire and did competitions, there
was no lack of dancing or singing. they animated with guitars and accordions
and throughout the neighborhood, there was an enormous chain of friendship and
harmony. After hours, as dawn broke in that intense cold, as in the midst of
clouds of smoke, the “llaucheros” appeared with ponchos, scarves, and Lluchus
with long ears. On top of this hat is an impeller made of strips of rags, to
hold its special drawers, which kept burning coals to keep warm the tasty
llauchas that everyone bought, not without first checking the amount of cheese
that they had in their broth content.
Fable
Cumpa Conejo and Atoj
Antoño
CONCLUSION
With this opportunity, it is understood how the
narratives that the older people of a community relate to new generations, but
the oral tradition of the regions is paramount, in this case, Bolivia, Jamaica and
Uganda, where particularly the ethnic group has been strong and a fundamental
pillar for transmitting systems of ideas, teaching, traditions and/or patterns of
behavior about their ancestors for the knowledge of current communities.
The important thing about this document is that it
allows knowing the different tales, stories, fables and interesting oral
literary manifestations that are practiced in the environment of the three
countries under study.
