Culture of Grenada

Grenada's French colonists brought their culture, as did the African slaves they brought across the Atlantic for agricultural work. The combination of these cultures is what you will find on this island. Indians have also influenced the island culture in more recent years.

With the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807 by the British Parliament and the subsequent Abolishing of Slavery, indentured labor from India was procured at a very large scale.

The first ship, named Nickor Jeremiah, departed from Calcutta, India on January 27, 1857 and arrived a few months later on May 1. In all 3,206 East Indians arrived in Grenada by 1885. Only 380 of them returned to India. The Indians made many contributions to Grenada. Indian Arrival Day was celebrated in 2007 on the 150th anniversary, for the first time since the centenary celebration in 1957.[1]

The Indians later on assimilated with the existing Africans, Europeans and other ethnicities intermarrying with each other. This very much influenced the culture and cuisine of Grenada.

Cuisine

The national dish, oil down, is a combination of breadfruit, coconut milk, turmeric (misnamed saffron), dumplings, callaloo (taro leaves), and salted meat such as saltfish (cod),[2] smoked herring or salt beef. It is often cooked in a large pot commonly referred to by locals as a karhee, or curry pot. Popular street foods include aloo pie, doubles, and dal puri[3] served wrapped around a curry, commonly goat, and bakes and fish cakes. Sweets include kurma, guava cheese, fudge or barfi, tamarind balls, rum, raisin ice cream, currant rolls, and Grenadian spice cake.

Music and festivals
Main article: Music of Grenada

Music plays a significant part in Grenadian culture, with the annual Carnival competition generating new soca and calypso material in August. The rest of the time soca, calypso, and reggae are popular. Zouk music has also been imported to Grenada from other French Caribbean islands recently. Other local celebrations include the National Dance Festival and Independence Day.

gollark: Or just anyone who happens to be *related* to dissidents, to some extent anyone made worse off by some poor decision made somewhere, someone who is *taken* to be a dissident even if they aren't somehow, people who are living in fear of being considered one, etc.Also, I do care about said dissidents, soooo...
gollark: The world is very interconnected these days so stuff happening elsewhere affects me somewhat. And I do also care about suffering being caused, even if that doesn't directly affect people in my country.
gollark: I can definitely judge them by their *actions* and whatnot.
gollark: ???
gollark: ... did I say it was?

References
  1. "I came, I saw, and I cooked it: Indian Arrival Day". The Nomadic Gourmet. May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  2. Saltfish accra- NomadicGourmet.com Archived 2010-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Roti Dalpuri- NomadicGourmet.com Archived 2010-01-12 at the Wayback Machine
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