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Martinique 2.
Culture:
As an overseas départment of France, Martinique's culture is French and Caribbean. Its former capital, Saint-Pierre (destroyed by a volcanic eruption), was often referred to as the Paris of the Lesser Antilles. Following French custom, many businesses close at midday, then reopen later in the afternoon. The official language is French. Based in French, Martinique's Culture also incorporates elements of English, Spanish, Portuguese, Caribbean Native, and African. Originally passed down through oral storytelling traditions, it continues to be used more often in speech than in writing.
Cuisine:
In Martinique, the two most popular types include Boudin Creole and Boudin Blanc. The former is made from pork, pig's blood, onion and other ingredients, whereas the latter is a white sausage made from pork without the blood and sometimes featuring prawns, crabs, sea snail (or the sea conch) or fish.
Martinique has a hybrid cuisine, mixing elements of African, French, Carib Amerindian and South Asian traditions. One of its most famous dishes is the Colombo (compare Tamil word kuzhambu for gravy or broth), a unique curry of chicken (curry chicken), meat or fish with vegetables, spiced with a distinctive masala of Tamil origins, sparked with tamarind, and often containing wine, coconut milk, cassava and rum. A strong tradition of Martiniquan desserts and cakes incorporate pineapple, rum, and a wide range of local ingredients.
As one would expect, French and Creole cuisine dominate Martinique's culinary landscape. The two styles also combine by using French techniques with local produce, such as breadfruit, cassava, and christophine (chayote). Creole dishes rely heavily on seafood, including curries and fritters. An exception is Boudin, a Creole type of blood sausage. A dash of Chien sauce (made from onions, shallots, peppers, oil, and vinegar) adds a spicy touch to meals. The favored island drink, 'Ti punch,' is a mixture of five parts of white rum to one part sugarcane syrup. Cręperies, brasseries, and restaurants featuring cuisine from various French regions can be found all over Martinique.
A Creole dish that announces itself from afar is Colombo, an Indian-influenced spicy curry concoction with goat, chicken or fish versions. Other Creole favorites include conch boudin, a shellfish counterpart to blood sausage, and lambi, a deliciously meaty stewed conch.
Visitors to Martinique over the Easter period will soon become acquainted with Matoutou Crab, traditionally taken as a picnic by Martinique families as they descend en masse to the beaches over the holiday weekend. The dish is a simple crab and rice dish heavy on aromatics, hot pepper and curry. During the Christmas period, pork predominates, typically with a smoked ham marinated in spices, but look out also for oysters, boudin and the traditional Buche de Noel, a cake shaped like a log. The island’s culinary festival in May showcases the entire culinary heritage, culminating in a chef competition and numerous tastings.
Music:
The music of Martinique has a heritage which is intertwined with that of its sister island, Guadeloupe. Despite their small size, the islands have created a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially Martinican chouval bwa, and Guadeloupan gwo ka. There's also notable influence of the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition and Haitian kompa.
Carnival is a very important festival, known as Vaval on Martinique. Music plays a vital role, with Martinican big bands marching across the island. Vaval declined following World War II, bouncing back with new band formats and new traditions only in the 1980s. Like Guadeloupe, Martinique features participatory, call-and-response style songs during its Vaval celebrations.
Ethnic Racial Composition:
* 80% Black & Multiracial
* 10% East Indian
* 5% White
* 5% Others
People:
Most of Martinique's population is descended from enslaved Africans brought to work on sugar plantations during the colonial era, generally mixed with some French, Amerindian (Carib people), Indo-Martiniquais (of Tamil origin), Lebanese or Chinese ancestry. Martinique also has a small Syro-Lebanese community, a small but increasing Chinese community, and the Béké community, descendants of European ethnic groups of the first French and Spanish settlers, who still dominate parts of the agricultural and trade sectors of the economy. Whites (Bekes) in total represent 5% of the population.
The Béké population (which totals around 5% of Martinique's population, most of them being of aristocratic origin by birth or after buying the title) generally live in mansions on the Atlantic coast of the island (mostly in the François - Cap Est district). In addition to the island population, the island hosts a metropolitan French community, most of which lives on the island on a temporary basis (generally from 3 to 5 years).
Languages:
French is the official language of Martinique. They however, also speak a local dialect of French known as Patois or Martinican French. Martinican French has it's roots with the French spoken in Northern and NorthWestern France (Normandi French), with some influences from West African languages, there are elements and words from Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Caribbean Native languages.
Religion:
An estimated 90% of residents are Roman Catholic; 5% are Hindu and another 5% practice other faiths, including Protestantism, African belief systems, Judaism, or are non-religious.
Sports:
In practice and in terms of licensees, football/soccer is the first sport on the island, but sports such as athletics, basketball, handball, cycling or swimming prominently in number of subscribers.
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