Calinda
Stick Fighting | |
Country of origin | Trinidad and Tobago Jamaica |
---|---|
Parenthood | Old Kalenda |
Calinda (also spelled kalinda or kalenda) is a martial art, as well as a kind of folk music and war dance in the Caribbean which arose in the 1720s. It was brought to the Caribbean by Africans In the transatlantic slave trade and is based on native African combat dances.
History
Calinda is a kind of stick-fighting commonly seen practiced during
Carnival had arrived with the French, and slaves who could not participate formed a parallel celebration (which eventually became known as
Before the Emancipation from slavery and its integration into Carnival, Calinda was used as a type of performance to provide ways of entertainment for slaves. Once the French came to Trinidad, stick fighters were no longer known as stick men but as boismen (bois meaning stick in French). There were different factors involved in stick fighting, including a costume that the performers would have to wear and the gayelles (or arenas) they would fight in. There are also special rituals that are done in the gayelle before the fight starts that include different ceremonial songs.[2]
Though it is more commonly practiced as a dance because of the violent outcome of stick-fighting, its roots are still that of a martial art originating from Kingdom of Kongo, and stick-fights still occur in Trinidad. They also have been formalised into annual Carnival competitions.[3]
The origin of this tradition has also been related to Afro-Iberian brotherhoods and the calends.[4]
Elsewhere in the Caribbean
It is practiced in other parts of the Caribbean, such as Martinique.[5] or Guadeloupe (under various names such as l'agya, damaye and mayolé).[6]
Kalenda is one name assigned to an Afro-Caribbean form of stick fighting as practiced in Haiti and entering the United States through the port city of New Orleans.[7][clarification needed]
Similar forms of this martial art exist elsewhere in the Caribbean. For example, in Barbados it is commonly referred to as "stick-licking" or "stick science."
In Louisiana
The well-known
Dancing the "Calinda" is also referred to in one of Louisiana writer Kate Chopin's most famous stories from Bayou Folk (1894), "La Belle Zoraïde," which stresses the strong Afro-Caribbean presence in Louisiana.[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b Shane K. Bernard and Julia Girouard, "'Colinda': Mysterious Origins of a Cajun Folksong," Journal of Folklore Research 29 (January–April 1992: 37–52.
- ^ KCG. "Stick Fighting – Steelpan teaching resources @mypanyard ... UK loves pan". www.mypanyard.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ^ Trinidad Sweet – The People, Their Culture, Their Island – Bird, Adrian Curtis (1992) Inprint Publications LTD, Port of Spain, Trinidad, W.I.
- ^ "From the Calendas to the Calenda: On the Afro-Iberian Substratum in Black Performance Culture in the Americas" by Jeroen Dewulf, Journal of American Folklore 131 (519): 3–29 (2018)
- ^ "Tangled Roots: Kalenda and Other Neo-African Dances in the Circum-Caribbean" by Julian Gerstin, New West Indies Guide 78 (1&2): 5–41 (2004)
- ^ "Lameca : kalinda". Archived from the original on 2014-03-13. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
- ^ Kalenda by Dennis Newsome at http://malandros-touro.com/kalenda.html Archived 2017-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "La Belle Zoraïde". docsouth.unc.edu.