6
Suriname
Culture:
Surinamese culture is very diverse and dynamic, and has a strong European, Asian and African influences. The population is composed of the contribution of people from the Netherlands, India, Africa, China and Indonesia, as well as indigenous peoples who lived in the area, before the arrival of European settlers. About 90% of people established in Suriname have ancestors who come from other countries and regions.
Cuisine:
Surinamese cuisine is extensive, since the population of Suriname came from many countries. Surinamese cuisine is a combination of many international cuisines including East Indian, African, Javanese (Indonesia), Chinese, Dutch, Jewish, Portuguese, and Amerindian cuisines.
The above has ensured that Surinamese cooking has spawned many dishes; the different groups were influenced by each other's dishes and ingredients; this new Surinamese cuisine included roti, nasi goreng, bakmi, pom, snesi foroe, moksi meti, and losi foroe; because of this blending of many cultures, Surinamese cuisine is a unique creation. Basic foods include rice, plants such as tayer and cassava, and roti. Usually, there is chicken on the menu in many variations of the Chinese snesi foroe, the Indian chicken masala and pom, a very popular party dish of Creole origin. Also, salted meat and stockfish (bakkeljauw) are widely used. Yardlong beans, okra, and eggplant are examples of vegetables in the Surinamese kitchen. For a spicy taste, Madame Jeanette peppers are used.
Besides the casserole pom, roti (often served with a filling of chicken masala, potato and vegetables) is also often served on festive occasions with many guests. Other well known dishes are moksi-alesi (mixed boiled rice with salted meat, shrimp or fish, and any vegetable), rice and beans and the original Javanese nasi goreng and mie goreng.
Music:
Suriname is a South American country, a former colony of the Netherlands with strong ties to that country. The country is well known for its kaseko music, and has an Indo-Caribbean tradition.
The kaseko probably derived from the expression "casser le corps" (rest body), that was used during slavery to describe a very fast dance. Kaseko is a fusion of many styles and folklore from Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It is rhythmically complex percussion instruments including skratji (big drum) and trap drums, and saxophone, trumpet, and trombone occasionally. May be sung solo or in chorus. The songs are typically structured to say and answer, as are the styles of the natives of the area, as winti and kawina.
The Kaseko evolved in the thirties during festivities that used large bands, particularly bands of winds, and were called Bigi Pokoe (big drum music). Following World War II, jazz, calypso, and other important genres became popular, while the rock music of the United States soon left its own influence in the form of electric instruments.
Ethnic Racial Composition:
* 27.4% East Indian
* 21.7% Black
* 15.7% Mulatto
* 13.7% Javanese
* 13.4% Mixed (Tri-Racial)
* 3.7% Native American
* 3.4% Chinese & Arabs
* 1% White
People
Most Surinamese people live in the narrow, northern coastal plain. The population is one of the most ethnically varied in the world. Each ethnic group preserves its own culture and many institutions, including political parties, tend to follow ethnic lines. Informal relationships vary: the upper classes of all ethnic backgrounds mix freely; outside of the elite, social relations tend to remain within ethnic groupings. All groups may be found in the schools and workplace.
Indian Surinamese - Are Surinamese people who descend from people who came from India. They are descendants of 19th-century contract workers from India. They are from the Indian states of Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, in Northern India, along the Nepali border. Indian Surinamese people makeup about 27% of the Surinamese population.
African Surinamese - Are Surinamese people who descend from the continent of Africa. They are descendants of West African slaves who were brought over by the Dutch. Although almost all of West Africa was involved in the slave trade, the most numerous and or most impactful Africans to have come to Suriname and it's culture is the Akan (Fante) people of Ghana, a good number also come's from Angola but not to the same extend as the Ghanaians. Surinamese people of African descent makeup nearly 37-38%, with 22% being pure Black and another 16% being Mulattoes, a mix between European and African ancestry.
Javanese Surinamese - (descendants of contract workers from the former Dutch East Indies on the island of Java, Indonesia), form 14% of the population.
Amerindian Surinamese - the original inhabitants of Suriname, form 3.7% of the population. The main groups are the Akurio, Arawak, Kalina (Caribs), Tiriyó and Wayana. They live mainly in the districts of Paramaribo, Wanica, Marowijne and Sipaliwini.
Chinese Surinamese - mainly descendants of the earliest 19th-century contract workers. The 1990s and early 21st century saw renewed immigration on a large scale. In the year 2011 there were over 40,000 Chinese in Suriname.
European Surinamese - descendants of Dutch 19th-century immigrant farmers, known as "Boeroes" (derived from boer, the Dutch word for "farmer"), Portuguese from Madeira and other European groups. Most Boeroes left after independence in 1975.
Levantine Surinamese - primarily Maronites from Lebanon, and Jews, mainly descendants of Sephardic Jews and Ashkenazi Jews. In their history, Jodensavanne plays a major role. Many Jews are mixed with other populations.
Languages:
Dutch is the official language of Suriname. They however speak a local English dialect called Sranan Tongo, locally known as Taki-Taki. Sranan Tongo has it's roots in Hiberno (Southern Irish) and British English, with influences from Dutch, Portuguese, and West African languages. Caribbean East Indian languages are also spoken but in it's Surinamese form, it is of Bhojpuri origin. Javanese is also spoken in it's Surinamese form. Surinamese Dutch has some influences from English, Portuguese, Hindu, Native, and West African languages. A number of Native American languages are still spoken and they are of South American and Caribbean origin. A number of English-Dutch-African based Creole languages are spoken by Maroons, but not much is known about them due to isolation. All languages and dialects spoken in Suriname have some Native American words that are still heard
Religion:
Religion in Suriname is characterized by a range of religious beliefs and practices due to its ethnic diversity. According to the most recent census (2012), 48.4 percent of the population is Christian (the largest groups being the Catholic Church, Pentecostalism, and the Moravian Church), 22.3 percent is Hindu, 13.9 percent is Muslim, 1.8 percent follows Winti, and 0.8 percent is Javanist. In addition 2.1 percent of the population follows other faiths (including Jehovah's Witnesses), 7.5 percent are atheist or agnostic, and 3.2 percent did not answer the question about their religion.
Indigenous religions are practiced by the Amerindian and Afro-descendant Maroon populations. Amerindians, found principally in the interior and to a lesser extent in coastal areas, practice shamanism, worship of all living things, and their rites are led by medicine men, or piaiman. Maroons, who inhabit the interior, worship nature through a practice that has no special name, and they also worship their ancestors through a rite called Winti. Citizens of Amerindian and Maroon origin who classify themselves as Christian often simultaneously follow indigenous religious customs, with the acknowledgment of their Christian church leaders.
Sports:
The Suriname Olympic Committee is the national governing body for sports in Suriname. The SOC was established in 1959 and now has 17 members: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Chess, Cycling, Football, Judo, Karate, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, and Wrestling.
One of the major sports in Suriname is football. Many Suriname-born players and Dutch-born players of Surinamese descent, like Gerald Vanenburg, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Andwélé Slory, Ryan Babel, Aron Winter, Patrick Kluivert, Romeo Castelen, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink turned out to play for Oranje. In 1999, Humphrey Mijnals, who played for both Suriname and the Netherlands, was elected Surinamese footballer of the century. Another famous player is André Kamperveen, who captained Suriname in the 1940s and was the first Surinamese to play professionally in the Netherlands.
The most famous international track & field athlete from Suriname is Letitia Vriesde, who won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships behind Ana Quirot in the 800 metres, the first medal won by a South American female athlete in World Championship competition. In addition, she also won a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships and won several medals in the 800 and 1500 metres at the Pan-American Games and Central American and Caribbean Games. Tommy Asinga also received acclaim for winning a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 1991 Pan American Games.
Swimmer Anthony Nesty is the only Olympic medalist for Suriname. He won gold in the 100-meter butterfly at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and he won bronze in the same discipline at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, he now lives in Gainesville, Florida, and is the coach of the University of Florida, mainly coaching distance swimmers.
Cricket is popular in Suriname to some extent, influenced by its popularity in the Netherlands and in neighbouring Guyana. The Surinaamse Cricket Bond is an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Suriname and Argentina are the only ICC associates in South America, although Guyana is represented on the West Indies Cricket Board, a full member. The national cricket team was ranked 47th in the world and sixth in the ICC Americas region as of June 2014, and competes in the World Cricket League (WCL) and ICC Americas Championship. Iris Jharap, born in Paramaribo, played women's One Day International matches for the Dutch national side, the only Surinamer to do so.
In the sport of badminton the local heroes are Virgil Soeroredjo & Mitchel Wongsodikromo and also Crystal Leefmans. All winning medals for Suriname at the Carebaco Caribbean Championships, the Central American and Caribbean Games (CACSO Games) and also at the South American Games, better known as the ODESUR Games. Virgil Soeroredjo also participated for Suriname at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, only the second badminton player, after Oscar Brandon, for Suriname to achieve this.
Multiple K-1 champion and legend, Ernesto Hoost, is from Surinamese descent. MMA and kickboxing champions Melvin Manhoef and Gilbert Yvel were born in Suriname or are of Surinamese descent. Rayen Simson, another legendary multiple world-champion kickboxer; Remy Bonjasky also a multiple K-1 champion; as well as retired female kickboxer, Ilonka Elmont; notable up-and-comer kickboxer and K-1 fighter, Tyrone Spong; and former Muay Thai heavyweight champion, Ginty Vrede (deceased), were born in Suriname.
Involving the sport of tennis, historic national champions include Gerard van der Schroeff (men's single national champion for 10 consecutive years between the years 1931–41, plus champion of multiple future titles). Herman Tjin-A-Djie (men's national champion 1941 and 1945, plus men's national double champion for 10 consecutive years with his brother Leo). Leo Tjin-A-Djie (between 1948–57 he was eight-time national champion and men's national double champion for 10 consecutive years with his brother Herman). From Leo spawned the Opa Leo Tjin-A-Djie Tennis tournament. Randolf Tjin-A-Djie was national champion for 1960.
Surinamese videos
Bookmarks