List of Corn Islands Intangible Cultural Heritage
These are the Intangible Cultural Heritages of Great Corn Island and Little Corn Island. Some are customs that still remain today and others have been lost in the last decades. These are not officially declared by local, regional, or national authorities but were selected by the Virtual Library team base on the definition of Intangible Cultural Heritage and for awareness purposes.
Masquerade: A celebration that was usually held between the 15th of December and the 6th of January. During Masquerade, a group of men and women would gather and wear a disguise. The ladies would dress like men and the men like women and both would wear masks made out of cardboard to not be recognized. These people were accompanied by others that would be playing music on the guitar and making noise with pots and would sing songs and visit different houses. At each house, they would receive a loaf of bread, soda cake, light cake, and most commonly eggs. On Old Christmas, which is celebrated on the 6th of January, those who are part of the Mascarade would share all that they were able to gather and have a breakup feast to end the Mascarade season.
Huipil: This usually used to take place on the 12 of October with typical dances and songs. Locals would drink pinki pinki —a type of alcoholic drink— and eat soda cake.
Minstrel shows (Rachel): A theatrical event that used to take place on the islands, especially during the month of November and December. The Rachel was a time of enjoyment, where young and old would gather to enjoy the performance of talented islanders, whose performance was based on life stories or past events. Most of these performances were satire. The Saint James Episcopal School is where this event was usually held. Brig Bay was also another neighborhood where Rachel took place.
Maypole: From the first to the thirty-first of May this festivity takes place around the island. It is believed that Mayoole was first danced by enslaved people on Corn Island on top of Mount Pleasant under a big tree with white flowers. Maypole generally took place on weekends and would gather young and old to play games, savor traditional food, drinks, and sweets, and finally dance around the Maypole tree decorated with fruits of the season and sweets.
Harvest: A celebration of Thanksgiving that is held by all churches, overall the first ones, on the islands. The Ebenezer Baptist Church starts the first Harvest and then other churches celebrate theirs each Sunday until the end of November. Harvest is an ecumenical celebration because it brings all churches together to thank God for the crops and life. After the religious service that is held, the church sells fruits, vegetables, cake, and other sweets and clothes and accessories neatened by members. These sales are usually to benefit projects or beneficiary work the church is doing.
Setup: An ancient Creole tradition to accompany the family of the deceased person until the day of their burial. The Setup consists of staying up at night with the family and playing board games like cards or dominoes to not sleep. Traditionally, food and bakery are offered to the people that accompany the family, the most common being journey cake-which is a type of coconut bread, chop suey, coffee, hot tea, or hot cocoa. Some families would offer rum and cigarette. If the family is religious, churches would spend the night singing funeral songs and praying for the household.
Anansi (nanci) stories: Tales or stories that generally involve animals like a tiger, monkey, toad, bird, spider, or rabbit. Nanci stories are of the same heritage as Jamaican and African Anansi stories. On the Corn Islands, it is known by some people as Nanci stories and it is generally told to children, especially for the moral or lesson that it has at the end.
Raja Bull: Traditional game that would gather people of all ages. It consists of a building or a small house with a triangle rooftop shape. Someone would be under the house carrying it around and dancing while trying to catch the other players.
Christmas Carol: A tradition that was born with the Baptist Church on Corn Islands. In the old days, from the 15th of December, Chorus from different churches on the island, especially from the Baptist, would go around the island, house by house, singing Christmas carols. This would begin around 11:00 pm to midnight and end before the rising of the sun, generally around 3:00 a.m. The houses that were generally visited were of elderly or sick people. Today, this tradition has transformed, the Christmas Carol is held in a specific spot in a specific neighborhood, where the churches, most likely Baptist and Moravian would sing and offer prayers, after, they would visit specific houses to greet elders and then go around the island in a car with a speaker playing Christmas music. On the 23rd of December, all churches would come together for a Christmas concert.
Bush medicine: An ancestral practice to heal different sicknesses using herbs and leaves from trees. Some common bushes use on the islands to threaten illness or sickness are fever grass bushes, hag apple (noni) leaf, and lime leaf tea, among others (an article on this specific topic will be published soon).
Social: A gathering that usually takes place among adults. In the old days, social was a get-together between friends to savor traditional food and play live music, especially on the guitar or banjo. Alcohol drinks and light cake were also served during this get-together.
Garden Party: A celebration to introduce young girls into society. The young lady would have a chaperone who would introduce her to the guest. This is very similar to the quinceañera celebration. At the Garden Party, there were no alcoholic beverages, only lime juice, sweets, and cake. Poetic and musical performances were also part of this collective gathering that used to take place in the family yard or garden. Attendees would also wear fancy clothes, normally suits and dresses.
